


Like Pompeii Falls

by FlaminiaK



Series: Game of Puppets [2]
Category: the GazettE
Genre: Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, Blood and Gore, M/M, Original Mythology, Sequel, War, i'll add other tags later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-11
Updated: 2017-12-28
Packaged: 2019-02-13 13:48:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 22,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12985374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlaminiaK/pseuds/FlaminiaK
Summary: After the events that involved a certain Master with his new Puppet, Yuu has to re-learn how to live, cohabit with what happened to him.But while he struggles with himself and the new world around him, the fragile political balances of said world threaten to collapse on their own."Like Pompeii you will all fall, when the Valhelis will come"





	1. Run boy run

**Author's Note:**

> The sequel it's here!! OWO)))))  
> I really love how it started and I'll be a little slow because I'll bounce between this and The Onyx Czar, but don't worry I plan to finish both xD

Scrambling was the best word that described how he ran down that long, dark hallway.

Shallow breaths echoed against the walls and from time to time a little wail tinted those pants with complete fear and confusion.

Tall, pointy windows interrupted the wall on his left every four feet and showed a view that was both stunning and apocalyptic: a carpet of stone trees, each and every one of them fuming with gray smoke and fire sparks for leaves.

Among them, manors and villages made of black and gold were connected by bloodied roads to the colossal castle where he was currently in, teeming with dark creatures of every kind.

Creatures that were also flapping leathery wings in that dusty-yellow sky, passing in and out of a wall made from dark-gray clouds in the far horizon. “WAIT!” a voice called behind him, but he didn’t stop.

He wasn’t Aoi, he wasn’t a demon, he wasn’t…!

But yet he knew each and every cranny of those marbled flooring, every gold speckle on those ebony doors, even the very smell of the air around him: it was all familiar and so reassuring… and that calmness was what frightened him more and more.

It was all so strange and different and confusing–!

A couple of feet skidded on the floor as he turned the corner, his chest heaving quickly and his light eyes caught instinctively the sharp light of a lightning, in the clouds beyond the windows.

_“A storm will be here soon.”_

A random thought, but it was both his and not his, resounding in the depth of his own mind. “COME BACK, YOU DAMNED HUMAN!” again the now irritated exclamation behind him made him even more convinced to escape that place.

But alas, while those azure eyes checked just above his own shoulders, something walked in his way and body hit body, falling backwards for the hard knockback. “Ouch… what the fu– Aoi?”.

A familiar voice spoke above his head and looking up he saw a dusty-blond demon with icy eyes and a befuddled smile on his lips.

Or at least what was visible, with the mask blocking the majority of his face. “Bro you’re awake! Thank Baphometh, I was so worrie–” “REITA!” that scream shut the demon up, seeing his brother’s eyes water. “Reita please help me, there’s a fucking… crazed demon chasing me!” hands gripped at the dusty-blond torn clothes, the other shuffling on his knees.

“GIVE HIM BACK!”

The screams were approaching and Reita rose one of his eyebrows, confused. “Oh shit don’t tell me-” “I… I have to get out…! Where’s Taka?? Please tell me he’s not dead!” his voice was broke, frantic and the demon couldn’t speak more because a big, black and shiny python crawled between the two.

It stood up on its coils, hissing at the raven haired, before launching itself against him, pressing its thick body around his neck. “Holy Hell Uruha! This is NOT the way you treat a guest!” Reita growled as he moved to remove the mist-like animal from his brother.

Or what appeared to be his brother, but that wasn’t anymore. “As if I could care, you dumb brother!” Uruha power-walked towards the two, hand rising with a hand in a clawing position, palm up and eyes black as a moonless night.

The amber light in it was gone since the raven started to run away from him. “Take that foolish human out of him! Or make him subside, anything!” dark eyes moved from Reita to the other and a low hiss escaped Uruha’s plush, pale lips. “Give him back or I swear on everything’s damned I’m going to eat your soul whole”.

For a moment that emotionless white face made his heart churn, a knowing bubbling up to the surface of his mind.

_“He’s suffering so much…”_

“Uruha, now stop being foolish yourself and call Hellion back, c’mon…” Reita narrowed his eyes while the body of their younger brother was quivering, hands gripping the moving coils of that snake.

Dark thoughts started to flood inside his mind like maggots, shouts and screams and cries of both pain and anger, unfiltered desperation.

_“What you made me do…”_

_“Why are you like this??”_

_“Love me, please!”_

_“I can’t do this anymore… I’m so tired…”_

He wailed as he closed both his eyes and teeth, the two older brothers quarreling in front of him, walking so close to each others their chests were almost flush.

_“Let me out… let me out please…!”_

_“I want to talk to him…! It’s not his fault…!”_

Suddenly everything got snatched away as the animal disappeared in thin air and a new type of growls echoed from a door left ajar, behind Reita’s back. “Shut. The fuck. Up! I was trying to sleep!” a very annoyed shout came and the raven watched while a blond, short demon walked out of the room.

Even if the appearance was a little different from the one in his mind, the voice matched along with some other memories. “Taka…?” a whisper came from those chiseled, rosy lips and Ruki’s new hazel eyes darted on the black-haired knelt on the floor.

Silence fell in the hallway for a couple of seconds, before the grumpy expression on the shorter grew into a moved, larger smile, his eyes tearing up. “Yuu…!”

Ruki walked briskly towards him and fell on his knees to hug tight his neck. “You made me worry so fucking much! I hate you, don’t die on me ever again!” he exclaimed as the raven tried to respond to the hug with a trembling arm.

Warmth flooded Yuu when he knew his little brother was safe… changed, of course, even strangely so, but definitely safe and sound. “I missed you so much… I thought I lost you forever” the quiet peep against his neck made the raven tighten the hug, hiding his face against Ruki’s shoulder.

Reita was chuckling softly at the scene, while Uruha was still fuming near all of them. “Listen here, midget… I don’t care if the human is your friend, he needs to dwindle his conscience _right now_ … I _need_ MY Aoi back this instant!” the often soft toned voice of Uruha was now full of anger, choked at the end of his throat.

And with those words, Ruki turned his head, hands still grasping at black clothes in a protective manner. “Listen here, _beanpole_ ” his growls were harsh and low, eyes now lighting up. “I don’t fucking care now, go die in a hole and leave us alone! I still don’t like you, at all!” with that, the taller bared his teeth at the smaller.

“Oh how I would use your fucking bones as toothpicks, midget…!” “Uruha, stop it, you’re starting to be fucking annoying! Babe don’t enrage him more, too!” Reita was trying to make them slow down, but the air reeked of a very probable fight.

_“You need to do something… please”_

_“Please don’t fight…”_

Other alien thoughts popped inside Yuu’s head, far in the outskirt of his conscience.

Yuu’s voice spoke now slowly and his azure eyes flashed black for a brief moment. “Stop fighting, you three” those words came out harsher than before, cold-faced with his entire body stiffening.

The demons in front of him watched as that expression fell, with a hand rising to the right side of his face: it was pulsing painfully fast, strangely. “Taka… Taka please I’m fucking going insane here” the raven sighed as his eyebrows furrowed. “What… happened to you? What happened to me? To… to us?” azure eyes fell into hazel ones and Ruki seemed to calm down at least a little.

The blond demon sighed, his smile now apologetic. “I’ll explain everything… let’s go to a quieter place, what about it?”

• • •

Leaving behind both Reita and Uruha to their bickering, Ruki and Yuu started to walk in the biggest garden the raven ever saw in all his human life, smelling flowers he wouldn’t recognize but that seemed so familiar anyway.

The grass was gray as ash, but still soft and tender like the green one in their Mortal Earth, petals of every color were scattered by the wind and other stone trees framed the garden like hands stretched to the dusty sky.

Aoi’s body was so accustomed to their native place it was confusing for the human soul to discern if those sensations were his or not. “So you… you were a demon to begin with?” Yuu’s voice came out as a whisper, before his lips stretched into a bitter smile. “Well, you’ve always been a little rascal devil, midget”.

A gloved hand rose to ruffle those now blond hair, watching them brush through his fingers like silk. “Yeah, it’s still strange to me, but Rei is helping me out with everything I need to know as a demon” Ruki walked with his hands fisted in the pocket of his velvety clothes, but his eyes never left the raven’s face for a single moment.

He was so glad to see him here, breathing and speaking, and Ruki was thankful for that even if his features weren’t his anymore. “Taka… how am I alive? I remember you sang for me and…” the question bubbled up oddly calm from Yuu, something holding down the panicky fear he was feeling.

_“You’re the best brother I could ever ask for…”_

Ruki pursed his lips for a moment, sinking his head between the shoulders and his pace slowed down. “You died” he muttered. “I… in that moment I don’t remember clearly what happened, I only had something screaming to kill inside my head… I transformed in what you see now and fought with Uruha… the guy that went after you this afternoon”.

Suddenly, his hazel eyes opened more and a new kind of expression painted his face: Ruki seemed like a kid at Christmas morning. “You need to see Kai!” he exclaimed, grasping Yuu’s hands. “He got your soul inside Aoi, he saved both of you in… well, some ways or form” a chuckle and Yuu still didn’t understand.

In fact, he stopped and held Ruki’s hands into his palms, blocking him from moving. “Please, one thing at the time Taka… My head still fucking hurts…” “Kai! I mean– Yutaka! He’s our creator, a sort of Lord of Hell or shit like that and…” again a hand rose to press on Ruki’s beefy lips, shutting him up for at least a couple of seconds.

Yuu was hunching forward with his breath quickened and eyes darting back and forth, new memories trying to form even if they already were there: he knew Kai - _Our Lord_ \- but he knew Yutaka too and the two images of him didn’t coincide. “You’re telling me… Yuta is _alive_?” he asked slowly, watching Ruki nod.

The body he saw then… the twitching one, his hanged frame spasming… “I know what you’re thinking, Yuu” the smaller grabbed softly the black-gloved hand into his ones again, lowering it from his face. “I was shocked too… but he’s alive and he’s here, on the other side of our home” a sheepish smile lightened Ruki’s round face. “Both of you are safe and sound now…”

That last phrase made Yuu’s heart twist and turn on its place: safe and sound…?

He didn’t felt fucking safe, he felt strange, he felt odd and broken in more and more places inside his head, remembering things he never lived through.

Yanking away his hands from Ruki’s hold, he started to pace again in the garden, glancing over the trees ad in the sky again: those walls of clouds were moving along the horizon or it was just a trick of his eyes? “Yuu… it’s going to be ok, we’re going to–” “I didn’t ask to be like this!” the raven exploded, his voice going raspy and throaty.

“I didn’t asked to become a fucking demon! How could you think I could like this thing??” he growled, eyes crazed while he was still looking around like a caged animal. “How could you… YOU always wanted something like this!! I just… I didn’t want all of this!” shouts, hands gripping black inky locks.

His head was throbbing again, panic moving in and out of him like waves in the ocean. “How can I go back home?? My… mom can’t lose another son, I can’t–” “Yuu” the harsh call from Ruki made him snap back into reality and looking up he saw a sour expression on his face. “They already made our funerals human months ago… don’t think I’m happy I left my mom behind” he spoke slower and precise. “But what’s done it’s done… at be thankful for the fact Aoi was so shattered you’re basically the only one, in there”.

_“You’re wrong, Ruki-chan…”_

A sigh erupted from Yuu’s throat, followed by a sob. “I’m so fucking confused… I don’t know what or where or-” “It’s normal, my child…” a new type of voice made the raven turn his head to his right and there another swaying of his brain made his conscience burn and struggle.

Inside the pointy, almost Gothic frame of the main door to the garden there was a tall and majestic figure, clothed in black head to toe and inky feathers peppering his right cheekbone like a miniature wing.

His long and wavy brunette hair were tied back and up, showing tender eyes and a soft single-dimpled smile. “Yuta…?” “Hi Yuu… sorry if you had to see what you saw at school… it wasn’t in my plans to die, I assure you” Kai started to walk towards the two, rising both his feathered and clawed hands to grasp Yuu’s shoulders with a paternal pressure on their muscles.

A little discharge of electricity shook Yuu to his inner core and something inside him clacked and sparkled, together with a warm touch inside his head.

As soon as those hands rose to caress his face, the raven shivered with happiness, an emotion came as deep as his heart. “I’m here to help you both, this will not hurt” Kai continued to talk with his soft, gentle voice.

Golden light as thick as smoke circled his clawed fingers and Yuu closed his eyes, feeling a strange pull from the back of his mind, like a sudden sleepiness: his body relaxed just slightly from his anxious pose and his chest puffed up slower. “They need me, my Lord… but I’m… so tired” nothing more than a whisper came out of the raven’s lips and Kai made a little, warm smile.

That light made Aoi’s pale skin shine like a diamond and Ruki could almost see his skull thought muscles and tendons. “I know, my child… but you two must not fight for control” Kai muttered again.

A delicate vibration shook the air around them as the light slowly faded away. “It will take a while, but you’ll love this place” Kai spoke to Yuu now, caressing his soul with his fingertips like someone would do to a cat. “Don’t be afraid, because you’re among friends and family”.

As he said that, Ruki saw Aoi’s body start to tremble and when he threatened to slump on the ground, the shorter moved quickly and helped him up.

The previous anxiousness, the fear and the panic calmed down inside Yuu’s mind, but he didn’t know if it was because of Yutaka’s power… or because the little sobs he could hear in the distance. “Are you feeling better?” Kai asked with a more cheerful tone and Yuu nodded, still spaced out. “Good! Ruki, show him around so he can feel a little more welcomed than this morning! I should probably talk with Uruha” the taller Lord of Hell spoke with now an exasperated tone, adding a whisper in the end that was too similar to an ‘ _again_ ’.

When the two brothers were left alone, Yuu took both his hands to his face, feeling something crawl on his skin: tears were rolling down his cheeks without him knowing it. “Taka… I’m a demon now… right?” the raven asked, making the blond nod in response.

“It means… I have to kill people, now?” the question came out almost naturally, shaky and fearful, and Ruki chuckled just so slightly. “Only if necessary, but don’t think about it now… I wanna show you something really cool” the smaller smiled up at him.


	2. Panoramic tour

Yuu didn’t thought about something like _that_ , when Ruki said they were going for a ride.

Walking as near as possible to the smaller, the raven gaped his mouth when they reached a room with a big dome-like roof, divided in eight sections.

It was all painted with golds and harsh colors, black half-doors enclosing all those zones all so similar to stables.

And there, the only thing he saw was a black-green leathery, horse-like muzzle, long with sharp teeth poking through its lips.

It didn’t have equine ears but more like holes in its head and there were short feathers where it should have a mane. “Uhm… Taka, what’s that…” “A leviathan” Ruki answered, walking with large steps towards the animal. “Rei told me they’re the main way to move around quickly and they’re quite calm despite their looks” the shorter continued to explain while opening the door, cuddling the chuffing creature.

Yuu stood feet away, fisting his hands on his chest completely frightened. “I… don’t think I wanna take a closer look…” he mumbled, looking how the bird-like paws of the leviathan padded on the marble flooring, talons clicking on it.

The animal had big bat-like wings sprouting from its shoulder blades and where it should be the tail, there was a pointy stub. “C’mon you scaredy-cat! It’s fine… really” the smaller demon chuckled, gripping Yuu by his wrist and helping him mount on the leviathan.

Not without difficulties. “H-Hey! Wait! I don’t want…! Taka, stop it!” as soon as Ruki jumped on the animal in front of his friend and now brother, the leviathan chuffed again and stretched his big, thin wings.

The raven gulped loudly, his limbs trembling while feeling the warm, smooth scales between his legs, but something in his head itched.

A rush of adrenaline, as if he knew what was going to happen… Aoi knew what was going to happen and his body couldn’t wait any longer. “Taka, please I’m not so sure…!” Yuu pleaded, but the smaller just chuckled.

The leviathan knelt down on its talons before it jumped up, flapping its wings, and bridles clenched in his hand, Ruki pointed the creature up towards the domed roof while the whole stables got filled with the surprised yelp of the raven.

Quicker, quicker the leviathan flapped its wings and swayed its neck, almost swimming with its legs running in the thin air. “WE’RE GONNA CRASH! FOR FUCK’S SAKE TAKA!” Yuu screamed again, squeezing his eyes shut as they approached more and more the roof.

But the sole thing they hit was warm, thick wind, filled with thousands of different scents and cut by the weak rays of a sickly sun. “Look, Yuu! C’mon!” Ruki laughed, feeling the other tightened flush against his back.

_“It’s alright… Open your eyes”_

After that whisper inside his mind, Yuu managed to open a slit in his eyelids and in front of him there was the most breath-taking view he ever witnessed.

The sky above them was circled by dark clouds like in the eye of a tornado, the sun shining from its center, but it was anything but threatening: it felt secure, a colossal wall all around those lands, protecting them from who-knows-what.

Under the belly of the leviathan, the dome of the stable was closing up like a flower at sundown.

Azure eyes then saw rows of hills, all painted red and cyan by tongues of fire that were the foliage of those stone trees.

Rivers of glittery gold as liquid as water slithered among those ash-colored grass and the more the two put distance between them and the big castle of the Lord of Hell, the more Yuu’s eyes could see.

Long dark walls ran along those swirly gray clouds, circling all the land and what happened to be a big city: tall skyscrapers made out of gold-veined black marble, smaller buildings of sand-colored granite to match the gold of the inlays, streets packed full with demons of every kind going back and forth.

Colonnades and long avenues made of obelisks peppered the city like the most modern representation of an ancient-Greek metropolis, with its large market center, fountains sprouting that gold-like water and temples of every kind.

The cobblestones were stained with blood, but something told Yuu’s soul it was the norm for them to be like that.

And in the far distance, along the visible horizon, yellow and white lights shone where the clouds met the ground. “Do you like it?” Ruki asked with a little smile on his face and the raven softened the hold on him, eyes still wandering around. “It’s… it’s…” Yuu croaked.

_“It’s home…”_

The leviathan slowed down the movements of his wings, gliding in large circles right above a shiny lake and Ruki patted its long serpentine neck. “It’s fucking awesome, Taka…! I… Wow…” the raven chuckled in complete amazement, eyes darting up again to look at the circle that was the visible sky.

Other leviathans were flying above their heads, most of them taking people from one side of the land to the other, then a couple of them just disappeared beyond the wall of clouds. “I told you so~” Ruki chuckled and when their steed landed, they were near a town-like settlement.

Hidden by a forest of rock trees, it was less magnificent compared to the capital, but it was striking nonetheless. “Do you recognize it?” the smaller asked and Yuu looked around, frowning just so slightly as his eyes scanned the street.

Then it hit him like a ton of bricks: the curve at the end of the road, a house with two floors on the left and one with a dog house on the right. “This is… our town?” Yuu muttered, blinking in confusion.

The style of those buildings was completely different, but the position and the overall look was… so similar, like a distorted reflection. “Yeah… so we’re still here, but on the other side, so to speak… this made me feel a little better, the first time, so I hope you’re feeling better too” the sad tone inside Ruki’s deep voice shook the raven from deep inside, alongside with a thought.

Takanori was still there with him, despite his now changed look… his little brother missed home as much as Yuu did… but he had Reita with him and that was helping him accustom to their new surroundings.

Maybe he… maybe Yuu could do the same thing, if it couldn’t be helped otherwise. “I understand…” the black-haired demon sighed, his lungs completely emptied in the process. “What’s this place’s name, anyway?” he asked after a bunch of seconds and Ruki’s smile warmed up more.

He approached Yuu and hooked an arm around his neck, opening the other in a theatrical manner. “Welcome to The Ninth, Yuu”.

• • •

“What I told you, uh?”

The severe voice of Kai echoed in the room, receiving only silence to his question.

Uruha was kneeling, his head down and his pale hair hiding his expressionless face. “You’re my oldest child, but you act more childish than your youngest brother… what has happened to you, Uruha?” he asked again, arms crossed and stern eyes looking down.

Uruha didn’t utter a word, but his head sank few inches between his shoulders.

His eyes returned amber and his lips pursed. “Answer me. Reita told me about your jealousy and even Aoi tried to warn me in the past… Now you chase the human soul like a madman, what happen-” “I didn’t… chase him” Uruha spoke back with a soft, guilty tone.

His eyes were still fixed on the floor, right between the fingers of his hand. “Oh you didn’t… so what Reita told me was a lie?” Kai growled annoyed and again Uruha’s head cocked down.

The demon took a deep, trembling breath before speaking again through gritted teeth. “He ran away and I ran after him… Aoi’s body still needs to heal and I wanted to…” the words got stuck right behind his heart, unable to be spoken.

He wanted to say sorry… that he was a fool for ever thinking about sacrificing the only one that supported, loved him… “But the human conscience didn’t want to subside and I got angry and-” “Enough” the hard shout from Kai made the other demon bite his tongue. “You’re getting angry quite often, I see… Your powers have weakened, too” the black eyes of the Lord of Hell watched as Uruha bit his bottom lip.

Kai pursed his lips into a thin line as his child stood silent again. “On your feet” he ordered, but Uruha only flinched. “…Uruha” the other threatened and finally the taller got up, head still bowed.

His eyes were looking everywhere but Kai’s face, as he approached him with a stern look.

Suddenly Kai shot his hand up and grasped Uruha’s forehead with his long claws, sinking them inside his skin: both of them started to shine and the golden-like aura of Kai met with the jet-black one around Uruha’s body, mixing where they came in contact.

The Lord of Hell watched and listened the countless of souls trapped inside his child’s body, all of his victims cry and ask for mercy, but only one was silent among them.

With eyes as red as blood, that soul watched back with a slow, steady grin forming into his nebulous face, its silvery mist blackening around the edges.

His frame seemed almost sick, tall and thin as he appeared. “Why are you so frail, my child?” Kai muttered to the soul of Uruha.

The soul emitted a joyless cackle to his creator. “You made me imperfect, my Lord… No one is truly shielded from dread and fear… Not even me” Uruha spoke to him with a melancholic tone in his voice.

Long insect-like limbs sprouted from his back, crackling and snapping before they would snatch one of those screaming souls, tearing it to shreds. “You made me to scare and devour, but you forgot to add all the rest, inside me… as you did with Reita and Aoi”.

_True Dread…  
_

Souls started to chant and yell around Kai, maddened by a thick black fog that started to spread all around. “You’re being corroded by your own powers?” Kai asked and Uruha sneered. “Don’t you see it, Soul Architect? I’m your first and your worst… Yet you made the perfect cure for me and I realized it too late…”.

_**True Dread…** _

Those red eyes turned black as another soul got slashed thin as paper. “ _Please_ Kai, give him back to me… I want to be whole again” that pleading tone was one that the Lord of Hell never heard coming from Uruha.

_True Dread…_

“I miss him so much and it’s all my fault… please Kai, give him back to me”

_**True Dread…** _

Kai snapped back to reality when the door of the big living room swung open.

Ruki came inside with Yuu still walking beside him and the smaller was talking about eating when both of them stopped, looking at Kai still holding Uruha’s forehead in his palm. “Uhm… Yuta, what are you–” “You guys came back early…!” Kai grinned apologetically, releasing the taller demon to just put both of his hands behind his back.

Uruha blinked a couple of times for the harsh return to present, then scrunched up his face seeing Ruki just feet away. “Midget…” “…Beanpole” the two greeted each other.

Then amber eyes found Yuu’s azure ones and another kind of look warmed them up for just an instant. “…H-Hi” the raven waved his hand and Kai immediately glanced at Uruha, making a little nod in his direction.

The taller sighed silently, before bowing quickly his head. “Hello, human soul. I apologize for my behavior of this morning–” “Well, yeah… you’ve been kind of an ass” Yuu scratched his nape and Ruki chuckled devilishly as he saw Uruha’s brow twitch for being interrupted.

They were in presence of the Lord of Hell, so the taller was almost forced to behave better for the sake of not being scolded again. “But I was the one that punched you to begin with, sooooo we’re even, ok?” the raven tried to smile and Uruha just nodded, mute. “You punched him??” Ruki exclaimed, laughing. “That’s the second, Yuu! I fear for my face now!” “Children…!” Kai stopped them rising a hand, summoning silence.

It luckily worked, seeing all of them fixing their gazes on him. “Since Yuu came back from the little panoramic tour, let’s head to the dining room and eat something, shall we?” Kai smiled gently, seeing Yuu pale a little.

His stomach was everything but open right now, seeing how Uruha was still looking at him. “We don’t eat corpses, Yuu, don’t make that face! We have -in fact- wonderful chefs!”.

Even if Kai and Ruki tried to cheer him up, the raven couldn’t stop watching those amber eyes darkening more and more, still on him.

Watching every move he made, analyzing it… finding little familiar movements and new foreign ones.

Those pupils saw how Yuu opened and closed his hands out of nervousness, how his shoulders were curved, how his face presented the still pinkish area on the right side of his head where Reita caved his head in.

How his forearms were still bandaged and bleeding even if slowly and slightly.

Uruha’s only wishes was to embrace his lover, kiss his lips one more time and take care of him like Aoi always did. “What are you lookin’ at?” Yuu mumbled and Uruha, surprisingly, lowered his gaze.

Aoi wasn’t there anymore…?

That’s why Kai was trying to make him go along with the human?

Aoi was lost, shattered because of his foolishness… because of his stubbornness.

“Nothing… Don’t mind me, human”.

He missed him…

Uruha missed his precious little pet with all the heart Aoi gave him.


	3. That itch

The first days, for Yuu, were -ironically- like Hell on Earth.

While his mind was still foggy with memories that didn’t belong to him, his arms hurt like crazy and his hands itched for something to hold on to, but never knew what exactly.

The first time Yuu saw his wounded forearm, he almost had a heart attack: the skin was slowly regrowing in whirls of black smoke, but seeing his exposed muscles twitch and tense at every movement of his fingers made him nauseous. “You did quite a number on this poor guy…” Yuu mumbled to Reita while they were walking around the garden, then only place where the raven found some peace.

The dusty-blond chuckled, ashamed. “Sorry… Ru gave me orders and I couldn’t stop… Aoi should’ve known I was going to mess him up so bad” Reita then sighed, patting away the fingers that Yuu was using to prod at his still healing wounds. “Stop playing with those! You’ll be fine, my bro is a master of healing” he snickered.

Yuu pouted, relaxing both his arms along his sides before he could lean his head on one shoulder, thoughtful. “How’s Aoi?” he asked “I mean… I’m him now but… how was he when he was… normal?” a confused groan escaped Yuu while one hand rose to shuffle his short black hair.

Reita looked up, in the pale yellow sky above their heads, listening to the far-away rumble of the circling clouds. “Uhhm… well, he was kinda chatty like you, so you two are a match on that side” the demon laughed, making Yuu chuckle softly. “Then… he was serious, hard working, focused… a little naive, but because is my itty-bitty-bro” another chuckle, but this time came from deep inside Yuu’s mind.

_“Stop calling me like that…”_

Yuu stopped, frowning as he watched his own hands close and open again without his control. “What’s the deal with him and Uruha?” the raven asked again, seeing Reita duck his head between his shoulders.

He turned to look at him, a strange expression on his face. “Why all these questions, Yuu? Not that I mind, but–” “I want to know the guy I’m currently possessing, y’know… since I have all his memories but I don’t dare to… inspect them” as he spoke like that, a new kind of smile crept on Reita’s lips. “That’s one of his serious words… you’re starting to act like him”.

Was he?

Yuu didn’t felt different -well, leaving the demon fact, of course- and another question rose into his mind.

Will he change completely? Will he transform into a different person? “Anyway… he and Uruha were always together since the day Aoi was born, more or less… he’s like a vent valve for Uruha but… there was something more than that, now that I think about it” Reita’s gruff voice died in the back of his throat and Yuu realized, widening his eyes.

All the ‘give him back’ and the looks Uruha gave him… was because they were…? “Wait… you’re brothers right? So… isn’t this incest?? E-even you and Tak– I mean, Ruki…” more questions wanted answers and Reita sat down on the gray-velvety grass, laughing tiredly. “Holy Hell, Yuu, slow down!” the dusty-blond chuckled, patting the ground near himself “Your head is going to explode, relax!”.

“We’re brothers because we’ve been all created by Kai, he’s our common father figure, yadda-yadda… but we don’t share blood of any kind, if not the demonic one” a hand rose to circle Yuu’s shoulders. “Ruki got created to be essentially my partner, you know… like Aoi was made to settle the war between me and Uruha, so it’s just a mere name fact if we call ourselves brothers” Yuu nodded to the little explanation, but he was still feeling that itch in the back of the head.

Something that pushed him closer to Reita, searching the firmness of his body. “You and Ruki are… going well?” the raven asked, looking how Reita’s eyes glowed up at the question. “Awww we’re going sooo well bro, you can’t imagine! He still likes when I call him Master, but I don’t mind…” a smirk crooked his thin lips and a little fist punched Yuu in the side, jokingly. “Especially in bed~” “Ahhhh I don’t wanna know thanks! I still like girls y’know!” Yuu chuckled back.

But then something made him stand still, eyes focused on the grass between his legs.

Did he still liked girls? Yes, of course, but there was that _itch_ that was making him going mad. “I like them too, you silly fuck! We’re demons, we settle for anything breathing!” Reita snickered. “But it’s not a matter of gender or preferences. When your soul calls for someone, it doesn’t matter if it’s male or female or anything in between… I love my Teensy for his soul… his cute round ass is just a plus” silence fell after the little speech Reita gave him, both so close their knees brushed from time to time.

A leviathan flew right above their heads and suddenly Yuu laughed under his breath. “Woah there, love guru…! Since when you can talk like this?” the raven elbowed the dusty-blond in his ribs and Reita laughed hard, scooting away from his brother.

Azure eyes then moved to watch around him, the flowers and every little memory connected to them: so it was a longing, the itch inside his brain.

A longing for a soulmate that was both far and near.

Ghosts of the past were strolling there, multicolored images distorted like shattered mirrors. “I don’t know what you think of me, Yuu, but I’m not dumb! I can still speak all flourish like you and Uruha!” the dusty-blond demon chuckled, while shoving the other away.

The two engaged in a little battle of pushes and shoves, laughing to each other, until a deep coldness waved on both of them.

Slow and steady steps shuffled in the grass and Yuu rose his gaze to watch the black figure of Uruha walk towards them.

Suddenly the raven stilled, hands closing into fists and his entire body trembled faintly. “Hi ‘Ruha! What forced you out of the library?” Reita chirped while waving at his brother and Uruha just nodded his head to acknowledge the dusty-blond.

Then his amber eyes moved to watch Yuu and as soon as their gazes met, the taller seemed to grow even colder than before, the very air freezing around his body. “Our Lord ordered me to take you around the city, today” he spoke with his low, velvety voice, devoid of every emotion.

The two demon sitting on the grass just stood there, baffled into hearing that announce, but then Reita chuckled lightly. “Wow you’re so eager! Look at that ecstatic face!” he joked to the taller, standing up. “I don’t know if-” “You don’t have a say in this” Uruha shut Yuu down with another hard glance, eyes flashing threatening.

The raven curled up at the scold and for a moment the three of them fell into silence, before Uruha could sigh deeply, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You have to master Aoi’s abilities, since he’s still a General, so the sooner you accustom yourself to your surroundings, the better” the taller explained while Reita helped Yuu up from his position.

Accustom to his surroundings?

He already saw everything with Ruki in the past days, why Kai would send him away with that scary individual?

• • •

“CAN YOU PLEASE SLOW THIS THING DOWN A NOTCH???”

Yuu’s shout echoed in all the valley as Uruha’s leviathan flapped his wings, its greenish scales glistening in the dimmed light of sundown.

Uruha didn’t listened to the other’s yells, he only fixed his amber eyes in front of them, feeling Aoi’s bandaged arms squeeze his waist.

The raven’s warm body was heaven for his frozen one, Uruha knew it, but he forced down the little knot in his throat when he thought it wasn’t the same warmth, not anymore.

And inside Yuu’s mind the _itch_ stopped, as he pressed flush to that slim and slender back, his hands gripping his clothes in both fear and… happiness.

A not-his happiness that reverberated from deep inside his recomposed soul and for a brief moment they were in tune with each other: human and demon were a single thing behind his squeezed-shut eyes, a warmth creeping to his cheeks and down his chest, in his guts.

That was the longing Reita was talking about?

That thrilling sensation of pure joy, distilled peace of mind…?

Aoi and Yuu sighed both at the same time, when a whiff of the sweet scent of orchids reached the raven’s nose.

_“Enjoy all of this, Yuu… this is true bliss”_

It sure was, with his heart thumping in his chest like a war drum, but Yuu asked himself if it was fair to feel that way, after all the pain the demon caused both him and Ruki.

Afterall it was his fault if they were in that state, right?

Aoi couldn’t stay angry with Uruha and Yuu was starting to feel the same, seeing the last memories the raven had: the taller sprawled on the floor, bloodied and tired, but oh so wonderful and surprised to see him there.

But when the leviathan landed in a little, empty plaza, Yuu got yanked away from that state of mind and he almost fell off the animal, when Uruha straightened his back. “You can get off” the harsh, cold words of Uruha made him untangle his arms, but his hands gripped those dark clothes almost desperately.

_“Please… a little more… I miss you…”_

The two remained silent, before Yuu could finally move and wobble off the creature. “I swear, these things are too fast… I almost flew away!” the raven lamented while the other demon got off the leviathan and secured its bridles to the nearest statue.

Then, with a not-so-gentle movement, Uruha grabbed Yuu by a wrist and started to yank the raven behind him until he felt the other follow on his own at his side.

Once on the nearest sidewalk, demons of every kind just flooded around them, watching and saluting them as they parted to make space for both of the Generals.

Uruha walked with his chin slightly propped up, straight back and regal stance, shoulders lightly moving in his steps and Yuu moved his eyes from his form to the landscape of the city.

The black obelisks created long shadows on the cobblestone of the sidewalks, but what amazed the raven the most were the gargantuan black and gold skyscrapers of pure marble, translucent windows cutting the stone like shiny gemstones. “Where are you taking me?” Yuu asked Uruha, slowly turning on his feet to just look at the rest of the city.

It was like being in the center of New York, but in the same time period as Socrates. “Training ground. You need to brush some rust off Aoi’s body before someone could notice his… current state” the reply was dry as a bone and Yuu furrowed his brows.

Uruha was really starting to wear the raven’s patience thin and when they stopped in front of a big sand-colored building, Yuu made a couple of steps to circle the taller and stop in front of him. “Hey, listen to me now” he poked the other’s chest with a finger. “I didn’t ask to be like this so _at least_ try to not be so fucking emotionally constipated”.

Uruha looked down in his beloved’s face, seeing his pale oval twisted into an annoyed expression… it almost made him smirk.

That wasn’t his lover, of course he remembered, but how could he stop feeling so good when there were the same eyes watching him?

And the same lips speaking to him like that?

It was almost like they were back the first times of their relationship, when Aoi wasn’t so compliant with him. “Oi, I’m talking with you–!” “General Uruha! General Aoi!” a foreign voice called them and when Yuu turned, he saw a tall demon run to them with a smile.

It had short black hair and a single, long braid coming out of his nape, dangling along his back.

His face and every inch of his tanned skin was covered with silvery tattoos, too. “It’s good to see both of you, Generals” the demon bowed in front of them, before addressing directly to Yuu. “I hope your wounds are healing well… we heard about General Reita going berserk again”.

The raven didn’t know who that person was neither what to say to him, but immediately Uruha made a step forward, using his own body as a shield in front of Yuu. “Reita luckily returned his normal self… Step aside, now, we have business to take care of” the taller spoke with harshness, but the other demon didn’t seem to care too much and with a second bow he moved away from their path.

Yuu didn’t flinch when Uruha started to walk inside the building, still focusing on the stranger. “Aoi, come” Uruha called and immediately the raven felt his entire body snap, his attention darting on his -not his- lover.

And as they were alone in the immense hall decorated with mosaics full of history, Yuu felt his own hand tremble, stretch to graze Uruha’s with just his fingertips.


	4. Paint the world RED

Swishes and whistles of a blade were the only thing audible in the big hall of the Training Grounds, together with metal clangs of Uruha’s machete against the stone floor.

Yuu was trying to get away from what seemed a sudden burst of rage, rolling on his sides and screaming him to stop. “Quit running away and fight!” Uruha yelled at him.

The raven groaned while dodging another sway of that machete and his eyes flashed for an instant. “I’m fucking unharmed!! How the fuck can I fight, you numskull??” he shouted, jumping back so only part of his clothes got caught in the blade.

Uruha looked up at him and his amber eyes glowed red for a mere instant.

Then, his hand threw the machete to the ground, making it sink in the marble like it would be wood and he walked up to the raven, gripping both his wrists in his palms. “Stop. Running. Away” Uruha hissed in his face.

He even yanked the other nearer, to watch his azure eyes dart from place to place, but not on his features. “You still have Aoi’s weapons, use them-” “I don’t know how! You fucker- you just attacked me! How can I…!” Yuu’s voice died as he finally gazed at the taller demon and both of them stood silent in front of each other, their chests puffing out at every breath they took.

For a moment Yuu watched that lithe skin tense, that delicate nose form a perfect triangle with its shadow on one of his cheeks… how those lips opened to let out a growly sigh.

The human soul understood why Aoi was so obsessed with that demon, he was surely as beautiful and majestic as a deity, his pale blond hair flow around his face like strands of silk.

Slowly, Uruha moved his hands to rise Yuu’s up a little. “Focus, now” he muttered with his face distorted with a stern expression. “You’re not defenseless. You’re a demon, one of the strongest… your wea-” his breath hitched for a second. “Aoi’s weapons will come to you as soon as you stop running away” amber eyes flickered with a dark, lone light and Yuu saw how Uruha’s regal stance slumped by mere inches.

The taller made a couple of step back, leaning to yank his weapon out of the stone floor and he stood there, motionless.

Yuu was in a spiral of thoughts, both his and Aoi’s, but he couldn’t understand what he was trying to say to him, not when a strange pressure started to throb in the back of his head.

“Stand your ground” Uruha barked, starting to approach Yuu again with his hand well gripped on his machete’s hilt.

_He’s coming…_

“H-hey wait, I still didn’t get how to…!” Yuu rose both his hands in front of himself, making a step back and away from Uruha.

_He’s coming and I’m unharmed!_

“I said stand your ground! Don’t move!” Uruha hissed to him between his clenched teeth, rising his weapon.

_He’s going to kill me!_

_“Trust him”_

_But he’s going to kill me!_

“No no no stop! Uruha stop!” Yuu screamed, clenching his fists and rising them right in front of his face to try and protect himself from the hit that was coming down.

SWISH–!

## CLANG!

Orange sparks flew above his head and something hard and cold vibrated in his palms, blocking the vertical hit of Uruha’s blade.

When Yuu opened his eyes, eight sets of shorter blades -four per hand- appeared on his gloved hands, big and shiny claws that were now scratching and trembling against the machete.

Azure eyes met amber ones, seeing them gazing intently and for a brief second, the raven felt his own body move without his consent, pressing on the blade and stretching his neck up.

_“Please… let me… just once”_

_W-wait… I…!_

Hands clawed the machete and yanked it down, forcing its owner to do the same.

Lips clashed together without gentleness and even if Uruha was caught off-guard by that motion, the taller leaned in the kiss.

Yuu’s whole body quivered and his breathing stopped altogether, feeling that cold softness caress his mouth, pull and bite so slowly it seemed a dream.

The raven shifted and rose on the tips of his toes, crossing his wrists on the back of Uruha’s neck to pull him even closer, desperately.

Memories flooded Yuu with other kisses more or less hotter than that, in a far past when the Shiroyama family tree was barely a sapling.

_“Uruha… my… my Uruha”_

It felt extremely good, it felt so familiar as the raven closed his eyes, squeezing it so hard he saw stars on the inside of his eyelids, and while Yuu thought his heart was going to explode for all the mixed emotions inside of it, Uruha breathed in the sweet and salty smell of his dearest flame.

He wanted to forget what happened, he wanted to forget that the demon against him wasn’t _really_ his Aoi, but feeling the well-known motion of those chiseled lips his own, Uruha’s body gave in to the sweetness.

_“I’m here, my dearest… please…”_

His hands released the machete, letting it clang between their feet and the taller circled the other’s waist with one arm, so hard Yuu felt his spine creak.

It was his beloved pet, Uruha could feel him deep inside that kiss, and the moonlight-haired demon palmed the raven’s cheek, caressing him before he could sink his trembling fingers in those inky locks.

One cold tongue searched for its warmer partner, pushing those plush lips open and brushing the wet muscle with long, slow strokes, enveloping it, dancing with it.

But soon Aoi’s control faded away like morning fog under the sun and Yuu started to feel unsettled by that embrace, too bashful to linger in the arms of a man that he didn’t know.

Even if he was starting to feel hot and bothered by that touch, despite the absence of Aoi’s will. “Wai– Ruha—” Yuu tried to speak, words coming out in shortened pants.

_This is too much…!_

Planting both his hands on the other’s chest, Yuu scratched his clothes with the claws still on his knuckles and finally Uruha snapped into reality, lips smacking and amber eyes slowly opening.

Those irises felt like stones on his soul, Yuu thought, as the taller softened his hold without releasing it. “You’re there… are you, my precious sweetheart…?” he whispered, his voice now completely devoid of the previous coldness.

**_CLANK!_ **

> _“Why won’t you stop fight Reita! You’re only hurting yourself like this, our Lord loves us all at the same way–” “I’m tired of this charade, my precious sweetheart… whining like a child will not make me change my mind” the cold voice yanked tears out of his eyes._

**_CLANK CLANK_ **

> _“Why don’t you ever listen to me? Why, why, why you don’t ever listen to me!” the growly shouts echoed in the library._

**_CLANKCLANKCLANKCLANK_ **

> _“You have me, it’s not enough? I’m not enough??” again those words dug up holes inside his pounding heart.  
>  “_ _Uruha, answer me! PLEASE!”_

Something inside Yuu crackled, the throb in his head increased and suddenly he showed his teeth to the other. “He wasn’t so precious when you used him as a fucking shield to save your ass” Yuu growled, pushing Uruha away from him, clothes getting caught in his claws.

Suddenly Yuu felt his head pulsate more and his vision got divided in perfect half, like the splitscreen of his favorite videogame.

The world began to crumble on one side, his eyes hurt by harsh colors.

More and more of that splitting grew in the ‘normal’ side of his vision and Yuu found himself compare what he was seeing with a broken tv cable, rendering the world in distorted images.

Colorful glitches eating pictures away.

Half of his eyes were seeing the roof above him collapse, the obelisks outside the windows break and disintegrate on the dug up cobblestones. “He wasn’t so precious when you put yourself first… and sucked him dry of every energy” Yuu continued to talk, taking a hand on the hurting right side of his face.

Uruha was looking at those azure eyes grow blacker and blacker, pupils enlarging and trembling. “You loved him or his healing powers? You loved his soul or the fact you had something only yours? Was it love… or greed?” Yuu croaked again, hunching over and finally falling on his knees, the throb making him hear his own heart roar in the ears.

Or it was the noise of buildings falling, while hooves galloped in the streets?

Screams and screeches of weapons made the static in his eyes become even more saturated and far away orders echoed around, deafening him for just an instant.

The images of a statue -more like a bust- blinded him as he saw it fell on the ground, breaking at slow-motion; time turned back and forth for a bunch of seconds and Yuu saw each block of stone fuse back again into that piece of art.

And then Uruha showed up again in front of him, standing with that guilty face looking down at him, but his figure split like a broken mirror: some of those pieces of space-time showed light and rubble rising behind him, making his silhouette pitch black.

Bright shards of pure luminescence were going through his flesh like paper, transforming his blood into tongues of green fire.

Bodies falling from the roof, through it, blood splattering as leviathans and strange feathered mounts collided on the floor.

Yuu moved his head from side to side and he saw other shadows move around them in other scattered pieces of his vision, weapons clash against armors back and forth, strokes of cyan and magenta and lime-green divide and color everything.

A glimpse of Ruki and Reita fighting, bloodied to the bone.

Watching up again, Yuu saw countless forms wrapped in silver and white charge them like a landslide, their figures so blinding his eyes started to feel thick tears roll down his own cheeks.

_“Don’t look! Don’t look, go back…!”_

Suddenly everything rewinded like an old VHS and in the blink of his eyes everything was _normal_ again.

No more shards of space-continuum, no more blood and corpses.

Yuu remained on the ground, hyperventilating and his hands so clenched around his claws his entire arms were trembling.

“What did you See?” Uruha asked, his voice turned cold again, but his face scrunched up into a pained expression.

Yuu coughed a couple of times in search of air and Uruha just knelt in front of him, cupping his face in both his palms to look into his eyes, now back to their light azure color. “What did you Foresee?” he asked again, voice low and deep.

“I… What…?” Yuu panted, head thumping so hard he had a hard time keeping his eyes open.

“It’s one of Aoi’s powers… the ability to See what’s behind the veil of Time…” Uruha muttered and Yuu gripped the other’s forearms with a desperate look into his face.

“There was destruction… and so much light… I… I don’t know…”

• • •

“The Generals are back to these lands, it’s not wise to-” “They’re here, but they’re broken and divided… this is the perfect time”.

Growly voices whispered at the corner of that dark, lonely village and two demons were briskly walking along the street, leaded by a third figure cloaked in silver clothing. “We didn’t waited centuries to just run away now… not when we have our allies ready at the borders” the same voice spoke and the first one whined just slightly.

The three stopped when a low screech interrupted their talking: a big creature landed feet away from them, hooves clacking on the cobblestones and the tingling of feathers bushing on each others.

The cloaked figure rose a hand towards it, caressing a large feline nose, playing with long whiskers like the strings of a guitar.

The skin of a wrist got exposed to the air of that moonless night and a ray of light as bright as the sun emitted from it.

Quickly the cloaked figure covered that skin with a _fwip_ of fabric and kicked the ground to mount on the animal, sinking gloved fingers in a feathery mane.

“How many poisoned do you have left?” the question bubbled up in the silence of the stone forest and a grin shined in the shadows.

“Five, six at best… but we’re going to make others, Commander” other whispers broke as the foreign figure chuckled, a silvery and clear tone in that voice.

“Good, continue with the plan…” the Commander snarled and the first demon nodded “General Aoi seems to be still out of himself and General Reita will focus on his soulmate as soon as we’ll attack… Once General Uruha will be down, they’ll lose their mass weapons”.

After a jerky salute, the demon turned and reached what looked like a winged lion with both the tail and the hooves of a horse, fur replaced by soft white feathers.

“Nuntium exspectat tua sumus”  
 _[We will wait for news from you]_

The cloaked figure spoke as the demon soldier mounted behind their back, voice ringing like church bells, and soon after the animal jumped in the air.

Looking the two fly away in the pure darkness of the night, the Commander grinned as he returned to his patrol duty.

“Oh Lord Kai… After all these years… I’ll paint your world RED”

They lost two wars in the past, but now… now they had the force of their own enemies on their side.

This time they will win.

This time they will crush down the Lord of Hell and create a new place for all of them to live like demons should.

No more rules, no more civilization… only anarchy and blood.

“Like Pompeii you will all fall, when the Valhelis will come”


	5. Waltz me to date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you're wondering:  
> • [bed and carving style](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/65/72/b4/6572b4db65ba5acbc8a7be17fc4b2f7f--canopy-beds--beds.jpg)  
> • [big ass mirror](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/46/32/7e/46327e5f84f6d2cf2f4ec897f57e41cb--victorian-furniture-diy-bedroom-gothic-victorian.jpg)  
> • [overall bedroom](http://cdn.home-designing.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/classical-dark-bedroom-style.jpg)  
> • [and then Ruki's bedroom](https://cdn.homedit.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Black-gold-bedroom-gold-wall.jpeg)

As soon as they returned to the castle, Uruha disappeared from Yuu’s gaze and almost ran towards the deepest part of their home.

He said Kai was to be updated on that -even if confusing- Foreseeing and Yuu was left alone in the long hallway, in front of a black and gold door.

The door to his bedroom, at that.

He recognized this time not only thanks to Aoi’s memories, but to his ones too, since he ran from it a couple of days prior.

Entering inside the room, Yuu watched what he missed in the scrambling guided by fear and confusion: his bedroom was something between Victorian and modern Gothic, with a big four-posts bed of completely carved black wood.

From it dangled thick black curtains that blocked the view of the inside of the bed, but Yuu remembered it had a padded headrest and fluffy, dark duvets.

The walls were covered in the same black wood, in large panels all around the room, interrupted only by one big window next to the bed, taking to a balcony outside.

A dark-gray carped was laid underneath the bed and in front of it there was a big, old-looking and dark chest.

The wall opposite to the bed had a big, black closet that followed the carved theme of the canopy and, near it, there was a writing desk full of books more or less neatly stacked.

The whole room reeked of memories and a salty smell, like the fresh air of the ocean, and Yuu inhaled deeply while entering it.

He started to walk around, looking up at a enormous chandelier made of gold feathers, clinking softly above his head: rising a hand, Yuu caressed the dark-stained wood of the canopy, letting his fingers run down it before moving to the writing desk.

Taking one of those books in his palms, he opened it and a stray thought hit him.

Those books weren’t his, but he loved to have them there in case Uruha wanted to visit him during the longs wintery nights of their loved land.

Uruha always enjoyed a good reading and Aoi was never tired to watch his beloved get lost in one of those stories, his amber eyes flickering along the written lines and his lips stretched into a relaxed smile.

As gently as he picked it up, Yuu put the book down and moved along the closet, opening it slowly as if he was ashamed to peek inside.

There, leathery clothes and silky ones rustled on their crutches, all rigorously dark.

Some were pearly gray, some were dusted with diamonds, but the overall colors were black, light black, dark black. “At least now I know I like his wardrobe…” Yuu muttered, before a little shine caught his eye.

A colossal mirror, its black frame carved with peonies and orchids, was on the other side of the bed, reflecting the last lights of the dying sun outside.

Called to it like a moth to a flame, Yuu walked silently to it and standing in front of it he noticed he could see the whole room reflected in it, along with Aoi’s body.

It was the first time for him to look directly at what he had become and Yuu took few seconds to let it sink in: pale skin, light eyes with long, dark lashes.

His black hair were cut short, disheveled and spiked in every directions, but a couple of longer strands were caressing his forehead just above his thin eyebrows.

Then his eyes traveled down his lean body, seeing how the dark gray shirt hugged his wide shoulders down until his narrowing hips.

His long, gazelle legs shifted his whole weight from one foot to the other, swaying and cocking his pelvis on one side.

Aoi was really handsome, Yuu thought, as he rose one hand to touch that face.

Yes, it was his now, together with those well-drawn lips and bright teeth.

Strangely enough, Aoi was devoid of almost any kind of spot on his lithe skin, all but one single mole on his neck, a tiny but perfect circle.

While Yuu was inspecting his own image, something poked into his vision and forms moved into the mirror, like ghosts.

Yuu turned to watch the empty room behind his back, then again in the mirror and that translucent movie continued to show what seemed to be a private waltz.

Those were memories, of course he could feel them wriggle in the depths of his mind, but his eyes couldn’t stop see his own body dance in the large space between the bed and the writing desk.

Hands linked with Uruha’s, the taller almost shy into moving along with the raven, but both of them had a sweet, warm smile on their faces.

> _“Aoi, stop it… You know I’m not that good at dancing…”_  
>  _“Awwww but you are! See~? Relax…”_  
>  _Feet moving to a silent music, swaying on the carpet until both of them stumbled on each other and chuckled._  
>  _Then an embrace, long and nervous arms linking behind a slightly curved back._  
>  _“Kai should send you instead of me, at that embassy party… I would be jealous, but at least you would look better than me on the dance floor…” that velvety and deep voice caressed the raven in all the right places and a couple of hands found their favorite one right behind Uruha’s neck._  
>  “Oh really?” a soft chuckle and the dark ghosts started to move closer to each others, transforming that waltz into a slow-dance.  
> “All the demons and demonesses of The Ninth would ask you for a dance… with your beauty and grace, they’ll flock to you like flies” a slight snort and the tightness in the chest.  
>  _“What about going the both of us… and call it a date?” a melodious voice replied back and lips found lips, slowly as the moon rising in the sky._

Those were good times, Yuu could see them for what they were.

_We were so happy back then._

That thought made him blink a couple of times and the memory faded like sand brushed by a gust of wind.

Since when they were a ‘we’?

Aoi was the one dancing with Uruha, not him…

But looking at them dance and kiss and hug with such tenderness… made the raven’s heart clench in his chest.

“ _Have patience with him_ ” his own voice reverberated from the other side of the mirror and Yuu watched how his own reflection looked right at him with bright eyes, a halo of black smoke rising from his figure.

Aoi was there with him, was him and he was him. “ _He changed after the Second Great War… you have to be patient with him… it’s not his fault_ ” Aoi continued to speak with a soft, tired tone.

Not his fault?

Not his fault?! “You’re too fucking soft” Yuu barked at the mirror. “He’s been an asshole to you and you still defend him?? You’re fucking crazy” Aoi just cackled, his gaze lowering until it met the feet of his bed. “ _I’m soft because I understand… I can still read his heart and you’ll do it too, with time… How he wanted to break free from his cage… I managed to open a chink in those bars but…_ ” the reflection opened his arms and smiled apologetically. “ _This happened… and he lost himself again_ ”.

Yuu pouted and crossed his arms on the chest, grunting just slightly. “Yeah, but that doesn’t give him permission to be always fucking rude with everyone!” “ _Try again, with him… Uruha can be gentle if he wants… if you heal him_ ”.

That was absurd…! He was literally speaking to his own reflection, for fuck’s sake! “I’m outta here, I can’t deal with demons with mental problems…!” Yuu growled sending both his hands in the air, then he power-walked towards the door with all the intentions to exit, but suddenly he stopped.

His mind was striving on its own, fishing out other memories from the recent events and Yuu rose a hand to brush the cheek he remembered Uruha caressed.

Those cold fingers strangely reassuring, those fingertips trembling so much it seemed Uruha feared to break him.

Was it true?

Uruha was really the loving person Aoi was remembering so clearly?

Shaking his head, Yuu chuffed and pushed the door open so he could go out and take a deep mouthful of fresh air.

He needed to think and, especially, try to get back to the Mortal Earth… he still missed home so much.

• • •

The room was starting to fill with both moans and a thick white mist.

Shiny gold was peeking through the whiteness, the whole padded wall behind the bed gleaming as the headrest pressed against it.

Well manicured nails were digging into a muscular and swaying back, muscles twitching under the scratched skin.

Strong arms gripping at a small and curved waist, pressing thick fingers in those soft and plump thighs at every pound.

_Fuck… yes… deeper…!_

Feet vibrating and tensing as lithe legs hugged snappy hips, heels digging through nerves.

_Rei… Rei… The-there! M-more~_

Growls rolling on soft and rounder shoulders, peppered with reddish circles and bruises.

Both of those trembling bodies were covered with a sheer layer of sweat and chests were puffing up and down in groans and wails of pure pleasure.

_Like that babe… So tight…_

The noise of their sloppy kisses was battling with the squelches of skin against skin, all framed by heavy and quick pantings.

_Rei~… fuck… knot me… give it… to me! Yesyesfuckyesaaahhhnnn~!_

Moans became screams and growls deepened as the lovers reached their climax in violent waves, electricity zapping along Ruki’s pale skin and ruffling against the black smoke rising from Reita’s.

A stray lightning flew off the bed and scraped someone else’s cheek, right under a pair of slender, amber eyes. “Are you done?” Uruha asked with his cold and emotionless voice, arms crossed on his chest.

Reita huffed a breathless laugh and turned his head while his body was still moving, grinding against Ruki and pressing him in the covers.

Riding the last drops of his orgasm. “Why… wanna join?” he asked back with a grin, gruff voice sending shivers down the smaller’s spine.

Ruki arched his back and sighed, hands gripping at Reita’s dusty-blond hair. “Nu-uh… Beanpole is a turn-off…” he mumbled still out of his mind, before he could curl his toes in the duvet.

Another couple of more tender kisses and Reita relaxed near the smaller, hugging his waist to him. “Kai asked for you… hours ago” Uruha continued, without flinching a sole inch from his position near the bed.

The younger brother nodded, moaning a sluggish sound. “Sorry if I’m the God of preliminaries” Reita smirked, sitting on the bed with his toned chest slowing down his motions.

Uruha rolled his eyes, groaning. “You only have a slut busying you–” “Hey…! You’re just jealous… again” Ruki interrupted him pouting hard, taking one of the white and gold pillows to throw it at Uruha.

He missed him, but the other’s hair waved slightly at the passing of the cushion. “Slut or not…” a quick side-glance. “Really, Reita. It’s important… there’s a breakout at the north borders” as soon as Uruha spoke, Reita’s brows furrowed and his eyes snapped to logic lucidity.

“Leeches…?” he dared to ask and his brother nodded, a stern face. “Leeches?” Ruki asked again more confusedly, tilting his head to watch how Reita’s body tensed up.

Amber eyes to lock into hazel ones and his arms fell from their crossed position. “The resistance to our Lord’s laws. We call them Leeches, because that’s what they do: they leech off of other demons’ energy and use it as their own…” Uruha explained, watching how Ruki slowly backed off against Reita, hands fisting in the bedsheets.

Immediately, feeling the worry of his lover, the dusty-blond demon eased up and wrapped an arm around him, kissing the top of his head. “Don’t worry babe, I’ll slain them all in five minutes and bring you a bouquet of their guts before lunch~” Reita chuckled, standing up from the bed to get dressed.

Uruha sighed slowly, eyes moving from his brother to the black-stained parquet of that room and an hand rising to massage the root of his nose. “Try to be careful… I can’t come with you this time, so you need to watch your back–” “I’ll go with him”.

Ruki’s voice came hard and serious, as he jumped off the bed to reach for his velvety suit, making both the other demons blink in surprise. “Master, it’s a little too dangerous for you” Reita tried to comply, but Ruki snickered, a devilish grin on his lips. “I’m a demon now, right? It’s our duty to fuck them off right?” the smaller poked Reita on his still bare chest with a nail.

Then his face fell and a more lustful expression washed on his features. “Also, Lucy is still thirsty for blood… After Sakai, she didn’t get any~” a soft chuckle and Reita lowered to leave a kiss on the tip of Ruki’s nose.

Uruha watched how the two dressed up and started to walk away from the room, Ruki leading as always. “Reita” the taller called and for a moment the air tensed, as the dusty-blond stopped to glance at his brother.

He saw him open his lips to say something, then close them shut to let a sigh exit through his nostrils… conflicted. “Yeah?” Reita pressed with a little smile on his face, a hand automatically searching for Ruki’s shoulder, stopping him from speaking.

Uruha let his eyes fall again, watching how Reita’s bat was already in his hand, dangling slowly. “Just… be careful, the two of you” the older spoke, in the end. “Leeches are weaklings, but… it’s been so long since they breached and after Aoi’s last Foreseeing–” “We’ll be fine… we’re two and we’re badasses” Ruki stopped him from continuing to talk, a smirk lightening his expression.

Reita nodded again with a soft chuckle.

“But thanks for the concern… Beanpole” Ruki continued, chest puffed out and as he took the dusty-blond’s hand, the two of them just walked out, leaving Uruha alone with his twisting thoughts.

 


	6. Dance in flutters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> [This is the song used in the chapter](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FuHbch1dFI)
> 
> And hold [this gif](https://78.media.tumblr.com/f864228d6e3e955c202c8997f3c6725f/tumblr_mrhtlqfytd1sf5gjjo1_400.gif) in the back of your head, it will come in handy~♥

The portal that Ruki left open to their town was well hidden in the middle of a stone forest, not so far away from the big, black castle.

Yuu almost forced his friend to tell him where it was, the first days they roamed around the lands, and the raven memorized its site quite immediately.

He had to take a leviathan from the stables and guide it towards the location -not without difficulties, since the animal seemed reluctant to fly at night- but once Yuu landed near the portal, a strange surge made his skin crawl.

The portal itself seemed like a rip in the very fabric of space, reddish and golden sparkles fluttering and bordering it like a ring, but what stole Yuu’s attention was the white dusted in front of it and the snowy landscape rippling through it.

The raven walked slowly towards the portal, eyes watching how it swayed and creased like water in a shallow dish and when he rose a hand gloved with leather, the portal seemed to vibrate.

Yuu dipped a couple of fingers through it, as to test if it would hurt, but when he felt nothing he immediately moved, passing on the other side without hesitation.

His feet met a thick layer of snow and his lungs breathed in freezing and thin air, but Yuu noticed he didn’t feel cold… he felt the coldness, of course, but he wasn’t bothered by it.

On the contrary, his brain seemed to clear up a little from all the confusion and for a moment his lips curled up at their ends. “Home…” he whispered.

Then he started to walk through the woods he knew like the back of his hand, the ones he always strolled with Takanori or with his sister back when…

Yuu stopped, a strange sensation gripping his chest together with a far away nausea: he was completely different now… and a complete freak, at that.

He noticed that his clothes changed into something more human, with a puff of black smoke, but his face was still…

Yuu’s body was several feet in the ground for Gods knows how long and his family probably wanted to forget… to live in peace their lives.

Was he so egoistic to go knock at their house and dig up all their pain, just because he was homesick?

With another deep sigh, Yuu started to move again, in the direction of the town and walked along the shoveled streets, the nausea still lingering like a clutch around his stomach.

The snow was glistening like a sea of diamonds under the harsh, white lights of the street lights and Yuu’s smile changed into a more melancholic expression.

There were so many memories in those streets, he could almost see the smaller figure of Takanori run past him, so happy he was going to watch Reita’s very first football match…

Or the first time they met Yutaka, outside the now shut down bowling alley…

He fisted his hands into the pockets of that strange, business-like clothing he was wearing and his azure eyes glanced on the houses he knew so well: he cruised in front of Yutaka’s old house -now with a big ‘ON SALE’ sign on the front porch-, then walked past Takanori’s house feeling a lump in the throat.

The sidewalks were empty at that time of night and he compared them to the ones at The Ninth, full of demons looking at them with respect.

Human world was so… colorless, now.

Almost boring, to his eyes.

_~ We don’t talk anymore,_  
_~_ _We don’t talk anymore_   


A melody crept in the silence of the sleeping town and Yuu saw a store windows still lit up, all decorated with Christmas ornaments and a couple of flat screens were giving off multicolored lights.

One of them had the sound on and the commercial in it was showing a man and a woman dancing on what seemed to be a red carpet, the sparkly dress of her fanning out to reveal a bottle of liqueur.

_~_ _We don’t talk anymore  
_ _~_ _Like we used to do…_

One gloved hand rose to caress the glass, listening to that song with his heart thumping.

Music, he missed music so much… the demonic world seemed devoid of everything merely similar to it and Yuu always suffered the silence.

It made his head think too much.

The commercial restarted and the song with it, filling that piece of road with its notes and guitar strums, and out of instinct Yuu started to sway on his feet, following the rhythm almost imperceptibly.

_~_ _We don’t laugh anymore,_  
_~_ _What was all of it for?  
_ _~_ _We don’t talk anymore…_

The raven started to dance away from the store window, stepping off the sidewalk and swing his hips more and more intensely, eyes closing to let himself fall in the little happiness a single song managed to gift him.

Hands softly curled, arms slightly folded up and shoulders rolling back and forth.

_~_ _Now I can’t get you out of my brain,  
_ _~_ _Oh it’s such a shame…_

He even started to hum the song, memorizing the music but not much the lyrics yet and Yuu smiled a little relaxed, twirling in the center of the clean, wet road.

For a moment the strange sickness in his guts stopped to bother him and the raven moved his hips in a horizontal eight, side to side, until he felt a dark shadow follow his movements right behind his back.

In the reflection of the store window he saw Uruha, swaying together with him on the road and Yuu snorted to himself: those memories were going to follow him everywhere, uh?

The demon in the reflection moved both his hands to hover them around his waist, amber eyes locking into his azure ones, but his face was still cold and emotionless as he saw hours before.

For the sake of his own enjoyment, Yuu wanted to play a little with that ghost, increasing a pinch the flirtatious hints of his movements.

_~_ _I overdosed,_  
_~_ _Should’ve known your love was a game,_  
_~_ _Now I can’t get you out of my brain,  
_ _~_ _Oh it’s such a shame…_

He muttered those words with his silky voice, moving both his hands through his inky hair, tilting his head on one side, eyes still connected to his ones.

Then, Yuu rose those gloved palms to caress that lithe oval just above his shoulder and his narrowed eyelids shot wide open when he felt something more than real.

As soon as his fingers touched cold, firm skin, a bigger hand gripped his wrist and forcefully spun him, so chest hit chest and the white puffs of condense from Yuu’s lips fell right on the exposed collarbone of Uruha.

Another hand fell on the small of his back, blocking Yuu in a perfect waltz pose.

_~_ _That we don’t talk anymore_

The song slowly faded away from the raven’s ears as he realized that _that_ was the real Uruha, not some kind of _phantasm_ of the past, and both of their breaths were on the quick side.

Yuu was still looking up in that perfect, delicate yet masculine face when his own lips moved “You… learned to dance, at last” he whispered, getting rewarded with a small, shy smile that warmed up that always imperturbable expression. “And you’re still so good at it…” the taller muttered with his deep, huffed voice and hands softening their hold on him.

They were in their own bubble and their faces started to inch closer and closer, the clear night sky shining on them with the light of a crescent moon.

Uruha slowly tilted his head, leaning in for a kiss, and the raven automatically did the same, breathing in the sweet scent of orchids deep inside his lungs.

He could almost feel those full lips graze his owns, a whiff of cold breath call Aoi’s name and in that moment Yuu pressed his free hand on his chest, blocking Uruha where he was without pushing him away. “What… are you doing here?” the raven uttered.

The magic faded with that question and the taller lost his smile, a low sigh escaping his plush, soft lips. “I saw you come here and I followed you… You don’t have the mask on” Uruha slowly backed off from their pose, eyes falling away from the raven.

Yuu didn’t left his hand, though, even when the taller let go of his wrist. “Mask?” he asked and Uruha nodded, rising his free palm to show the other the black gas mask. “It’s strange you still didn’t felt the urge to kill… but maybe you’re just out of energies”.

The raven gulped seeing the black, shiny tube in the inside of the mask and instinctively he took one hand at his throat. “Oh I don’t think I could… put it on anyway… like never” he spoke, seeing Uruha furrow his brows. “You have and you will put it on… open your mouth” the taller demon gripped Yuu’s hand, so he could stop him from walking away.

Suddenly a group of gurgled growls made both of them stiff, before Uruha would turn his head along the road: there were six figures dressed in torn rags running towards them, some of them on their feet, some on all four like rabid animals.

To Yuu, they didn’t seem like normal demons, with their skin full of blisters and their red eyes almost bulging out of their faces. “What the fuc–?!” the half-scream that the raven let out got silenced by Uruha pushing him harshly away from their path.

The first of those creatures impacted against the taller demon, jumping on his chest to try and bite his face off, but Uruha sank long claws into its nape, yanking him away from himself.

“Stand up and fight!” Uruha yelled to Yuu, his hand snapping with a twirl to make his machete pop out in a splash of black oil. “How did they found us…??” the taller growled under his breath.

And there Yuu saw others of those strange-looking demons circle them, yelling and hissing and roaring.

But as soon as they tried to reach to Uruha into a flutter of arms and teeth, the First General swung his machete down, twirling midair and using it to block a second demon behind his back.

Azure eyes followed each movement of that slender, black deity and Yuu felt his heart increase in size, almost recognizing some of those poses. “Stop idling and put them down!” Uruha shouted at him again, amber eyes darkening until they were black as the night around them: with a whirl of his feet the taller clashed his weapon against one of the enemies’ neck, slashing through it as if it was butter.

Black blood splattered on the pale face of Uruha, but it disappeared seconds after, like absorbed by his skin.

Yuu then felt a couple of clawed hands reach to his shoulders and sharp teeth sunk in the side of his neck, yanking a high-pitched growl from his throat. “DEFEND YOURSELF!” Uruha growled, eyes darting towards the squirming demon on the ground.

The raven instinctively flashed his hands up, getting a hold of the Leech to yank him away from him and using his feet to send him flying. “Why the fuck they’re attacking us??” Yuu exclaimed as he approached Uruha, seeing how his dark eyes were following the random motions of the others Leeches.

The taller tsked, scrunching up his face into a scowl, and tightened the grip on the machete. “I’ll explain later, now fight…” he rumbled deep in his chest, rising his weapon to hit a temple with its hilt.

Uruha’s free hand rose and clawed at a skinny neck, hauling the Leech up while two single insect-like limbs thrashed from his back making wet, whistling noises.

Yuu jumped away from them, completely startled by their screeches and cracklings, and a sudden wave of nausea hit him in his stomach as he saw those black limbs impale the Leech right through his stern. “Fucking trash…” Uruha mumbled.

The taller’s jaw started to crack and open, his skin ripping at the sides of his lips and just like a big snake he moved his wriggling prey to his now longer canines: the Leech’s entire neck got enclosed into those maws and with a hard _SNAP_ Uruha bit down hard in it, jerking his head on one side.

The body of the Leech stopped moving and black pitch started to get sucked away from it, leaving behind just a corpse similar to a plaster statue.

Yuu trembled in the pure dread he felt as seeing Uruha _devour_ that thing, his throat swell and inflate as he swallowed what he had enclosed in his mouth, the same black pitch from before roll down to his chin.

It was like looking at a tarantula consume its victims, liquefy them from the inside to have an easy meal.

Uruha turned to see the other Leeches quivering on their feet and he laughed, a sound devoid of any happiness. “How’s next?” he hissed with a distorted voice, pointing at everyone of them with his blade.

In a flutter of rags and stepped-on snow, suddenly all the Leeches attacked desperately at the same time, three focusing on Uruha and the other two running up to the still trembling raven.

Yuu moved, ducking under a clawed hand, then he impacted a fist right into a one of those creatures’ cheekbone, feeling his one creak under his knuckles.

For a moment, the raven remembered all the fight he had to do at school, all the hits and the punches he exchanged with Sakai and his minions for the sake of poor Takanori.

It was better than that, as he felt quicker and stronger with that lean body shifting effortlessly among those brutes, jabbing at their throats and bashing their stomaches with his knees.

But while Yuu was taking care of one of those Leeches, a new set of teeth sank into his flesh right under his nape and something _spasmed_ inside his brain.

His eyes shot wide open, completely black, and Yuu inhaled sharply with a growly sound.

His shiny black claws puffed into his hands with clouds of smoke and his whole body gyrated on its own accord: his arms rose and blades plunged into blistered flesh, mauling the demon from his shoulders into the ground until it was reduced to a bloody pulp.

_“More… more… more…”_

Yuu’s breath was shallow and quick, mouth agape as he finally felt the nausea start to take over him.

As he licked a mouthful of blood off his black claws.

_“Blood… give it to me… give it give it give it–!”_

It was maddening, the more he breathed the more his guts contorted like headless snakes, sending alarms inside his head.

His claws found another Leech, ripping it open from head to toes with a single slash and Yuu inhaled the salty smell of their blood, exhaling a thick cloud of hot condense in the frozen air.

_“Kill them… Kill them kill them kill kill killkillkilLKiLlkILLKILL”_

Blood splashed his clothes, his skin, his bared teeth as Yuu let his body twist, so powerfully he was hooked up on that feeling.

Then, rising his eyes, the raven saw Uruha twirl on himself and bit down on another throat, his long black clothes fan open and around him as he fell on his knees.

He was giving him his back… his long, slender back.

He was so… defenseless now, busy with the last of those creatures.

_“Delicious… so fucking delicious…”_

Yuu felt his own eyes roll back into his skull as he took his hands on his temples, trying to silence what seemed to be a roaring stadium inside his head.

He wanted to attack him, rip open that wonderful back and lick at his exposed bones, drink his blood until he was full, see his face scrunch up in pure agony while he–

Suddenly all the growls and howls in his brain winded down as he saw Uruha still on his knees, heaving forcefully and one trembling hand trying to keep him up from the ground. “Put… your mask… on, you dumb human” Uruha groaned.

Then he craned his neck to watch the raven and Yuu got submerged with cold, anxious shivers all over his body: the lithe skin he was starting to appreciate was covered in dark veins, interrupting his cheeks and the zone around his eyes like a dried river.

The same black substance he gulped down before was oozing out of his gaping lips, pearly-gray foam forming along his tongue and at the corners of his lips.

_“It’s not normal… it’s NOT normal…!”_

Aoi screamed from the deepest part of Yuu’s mind and the human soul felt worry crawl up on him. “What… happened to you–” “PUT THE MASK ON” a fearful growl interrupted him, before Uruha’s insect-like limbs fell on the ground like fallen trees.

They melted away as quickly as they appeared and only two black stains remained on the snow. “Fuck that mask, you’re the one looking like shit” Yuu sneered at the taller, walking up to him so briskly he almost slid on an iced patch on the side of the road.

Uruha tried to speak, but his voice got choked by a wail and a river of black pitch burst from his throat, falling between his folded knees with streaks of pure, glowing white in it.

He barfed again, the thick liquid turning more and more clear and bright.

_“No… no no it’s not… those souls are…!”_

Aoi thrashed completely trapped and weak behind Yuu’s soul, gripping at the human one with desperation as the raven knelt down, one hand rubbing between Uruha’s shoulder blades. “Uruha I don’t know what– tell me what I have to do!” the raven asked hurriedly.

Those amber eyes flickered up to him and a strangled growl came from Uruha, teeth clenching in that now light gray liquid. “Heal… heal me…!” he clawed at Yuu’s clothes, searching for his hand like a mad man.

Healing? “Uruha… I-I…”.

Yuu didn’t know how to do it, he still was in the complete obscurity of how Aoi’s body worked and he wanted to say it to the other, but panic enveloped him as he felt Uruha collapse against him.

His whole body was twitching and that milky-white, gleaming blood was still straining out of his lips, slowly.

_“Uruha…! Nonono no NO PLEASE…! PLEASE YUU DO SOMETHING!!”_


	7. The shape of lacking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! :D  
> I'll take few days off from writing and start with a new chapter the first day of 2018 for a good kickstart of the new year! :D

“Fuck babe, you’re so sexy when you dismember corpses”

The deep voice of Reita made Ruki chuckle, as he was yanking the blade of his chainsaw out of a thick skull, blood splattering all over him. “Mh-mh? I thought the same when you smashed his head” Ruki grinned and pointed at the pulp at Reita’s feet.

The two Generals were cleaning what remained of the Leeches that dared to breach not only the big stone walls circling all The Ninth, but that also fought the colossal, whirling clouds around it. “I was thinking… wanna go out, tonight?” Reita asked while overstepping a corpse, approaching his lover with his bloodied bat on his shoulders.

Ruki turned to him with a little smirk, cocking an eyebrow “Oooh, date?” he muttered, delighted. “As soon as we’ll be back, handsome… I wanna check on Yuu first” the smaller rose a hand and gave a couple of pats on Reita’s ribs.

The dusty-blond demon chuckled softly, leaning to leave a little kiss on the top of his Teensy’s head. “He’s fine, c’mon! He’s probably bored out of his mind, at the castle” Reita shrug, stealing Ruki’s hand in his one to lead him away from the battleground.

Ruki exhaled deeply, nodding. “I know, but… he’s still freaked out about being a demon and… well… I think he hates me for all of this” plump lips pouted and Reita turned his head to see the little demon watch the ground as they walked.

Slowing down, the dusty-blond grabbed Ruki’s face in his hands, forcing him to look up to him. “Hey… you saved his life, ok?” Reita spoke with a delicate, but serious tone. “And Aoi’s one, too… He’s not angry with you, he probably have too much to handle” another kiss, this time on those pouted lips.

Ruki sighed, relaxing in that hold, and a little smile crept on his mouth. “If you say so…” the smaller muttered, replying to that sweet kiss soon after and when Reita grinned to him, the dusty-blond demon held both of his partner’s hands.

Pulling him against his chest, he nuzzled the smaller on his neck, chuffing his cold breath on his heated skin. “Of course I say so, Teensy… You need to relax a little… You’re doing great as a demon, Yuu will find the fun part in it, too” but even if Reita spoke in the shell of Ruki’s ear with his low, gruff voice, the other seemed to stiffen.

His hazel eyes shot in the tall underbrush around them and his teeth bared. “There’s someone” Ruki spoke under his breath and Reita immediately made his bat puff into his hands, gripping it hard. “Some fucker escaped, before?” the dusty-blond asked and Ruki furrowed his brows. “I thought we killed them all…”.

The light-blond hunched over, almost crouching on the ground covered in gray grass, and moved a hand to signal Reita to follow him: they were far away from the border walls, some Leech managed to pass without them noticing it?

Stopping behind a thick stone tree, Ruki watched as Reita passed him, bat already lifted in the air and ready to strike, but something was off.

Ruki was able to smell a different, yet familiar scent around there and it remembered him to a forest… a normal forest, with pine trees and fresh mountain-y air.

Then his eyes wandered around and he recognized that place, even too well… “Rei, wai–!” “SOMEONE! PLEASE!” that hoarse plead made the smaller demon shiver.

That voice…!

Ruki circled the big tree and saw his best friend bent forwards, a dark form leaning on his back “Yuu?? What the fuck you’re doing here??” the smaller demon ran towards the raven to help him and Reita let his bat disappear, approaching the panting figure of Yuu.

He was completely drenched, snow melting into his clothes and wetting it so much they clung to his body.

His face was what made Reita furrow his eyebrows, worried: the naturally pale skin of his brother was sporting faint cracks around his eyes, like dark veins pulsating and growing down to his cheekbones.

Like branches of a dead tree.

The black bundle on Yuu’s back shivered off his shoulders and the raven sobbed in complete shock as he saw the other two, falling on his knees. “RUKI! REI…! Please…! I-I… dunno what to do-!” he rambled and Reita quickly knelt near Ruki in front of the raven, taking his face in his hands.

His eyes were turning black, but there was dark smoke coming out of his mouth with every breath and it smelled like the acid of a car battery. “What happened?” the dusty-blond demon asked in a seemingly harsh tone and Yuu started heaving heavily.

His hands clutching around the twitching body of Uruha, the taller’s eyes closed shut and his teeth clenched.

White, glowing foam sliding to his chin. “They… they attacked us…! And… and he ate them…! And started… to throw up, I don’t know…! Aoi is… screaming, I can’t… think!” Ruki rose his gloved hands to support his hunching friend, hugging both his arms with his fingers.

Yuu was trembling in a complete state of shock, his palms quivering around and against Uruha, inhaling sharply every time. “Shhh hey, Yuu! I’m here, calm down!” Ruki tried to get his attention, squeezing his shoulders. “Yuu, you need to breathe, c’mon! Slowly–” “HE’S DYING AND IT’S MY FAULT!” shiny black eyes shot Ruki from side to side, like a couple of daggers.

The raven then started to rock back and forth a couple of times, breathing through his closed teeth. “We have to take them to the castle. Now” the hurried tone inside Reita’s voice made Ruki even more worried and turning to watch his lover, the smaller saw him take Uruha from Yuu’s embrace, quickly rising on his feet.

The First General was dangling limp in those strong arms, his lungs collapsing at each wheeze. “I… should’ve do something… anything…! M-my… My… Uruha, I should’ve–SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Yuu was wailing on his knees, completely out of himself as Aoi was trying to take control with the last powers he had left.

Then the smaller of the three saw pearly-gray foam starting to form at the corners of the raven’s lips and something clicked in the back of his mind.

That could be… poison?

That was _surely_ poison, circling inside his bestfriend’s bloodstream.

Ruki put Yuu’s arm on his shoulders, heaving him up and circling his sides with his one in case his legs would fail him. “I can’t think straight… I can’t, I can’t, Taka…!” the raven spoke with quicker and quicker ragged breaths.

His eyes rolling inside his skull. “Yuu, please, stay with me…! Keep talking!” Ruki then started walking, trying to take the majority of Yuu’s weight on himself.

The less the raven moved, the less the venom would run through his veins, poisoning him to death.

He needed to be healed, right away, together with Uruha…!

Reita jogged past them, eyes darting from the path in front of him to his brother, his hands almost crushing his figure in his palms. “Oi, ‘Ruha! C’mon you duck, wake up…!” he uttered under his breath and the dusty-blond was the first one to enter in the great hall of their home, followed suit by his lover and the raven.

Black marble glistened at every drop of pure whiteness that fell from Uruha’s mouth, trickling down his neck from time to time. “KAI! MY LORD!” Reita then shouted, his face scrunching up into a worried expression.

He never saw Uruha in that conditions, not even after one of their gruesome fights… he always fought back and seeing him so abandoned and unresponsive was…

Unsettling.

And as Reita knelt near the great staircase to lay Uruha on the thick and soft carpet, Ruki walked towards a big door, knowing it would lead them to their quarters.

He needed to make Yuu lay down and try to heal him as much as he could, to help the raven’s power defeat the poison.

Yuu tried to yank himself away as he noticed they were farer and farer from Uruha, clawing at the smaller’s arms and shoulders “Let me go…! Pleasepleaseplease don’t take me away from him…!” the raven slithered away from those gloved hands, but Ruki quickly circled his waist with his arms.

Yuu was starting to tremble, he could feel it, and that wasn’t a good sign. “You’re poisoned, stop moving! Yuu, be still!” Ruki huffed, while his friend weakly kicked the air in the mere tentative to free himself.

Kai, meanwhile, appeared in a flutter of black feathers and as soon as he saw his children in disarray, his kind and relaxed expression changed into a stone-like one, eyes darting on Uruha. “What happened, my child?” he briskly asked to Reita.

Stretching out his clawed hands, Kai emitted thick smoke from his palms, but it landed on Uruha and slid away from his body. “Leeches, my Lord… Yuu was him and I think they got poisoned, but…” Reita turned to watch how the raven was fighting Ruki’s hold, trying to approach them. “I don’t recognize the symptoms” the Second General continued, while Kai was lowering his hands so much he was pressing his palms flat on Uruha’s chest.

That smoke swirled, intertwined with the pale demon’s clothes, pooled between his collarbones and frizzled as it caressed his chin still drenched in white, but Uruha didn’t move, if not for his slow, big, gurgling heaves. “He… he’s dying, Kai…?” Reita then croaked and the feathered Lord of Hell worn a stern face. “I’m not letting him… but this poison is a strange one, my powers melt away–” “LET ME FUCKING GO!”.

The scream coming from near the entrance made Reita snap his head up and turning he saw Yuu claw at Ruki in pure frenzy, the smaller pushing the raven on the floor, pinning him down. “You’re gonna die if you continue to move–!” “LET ME GO! RUKI PLEASE! FUCKING PLEASE! I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU! I…!” black eyes were looking at Kai’s back, vibrating and shining of held-back tears.

But he was gazing beyond that feathered cape, his irises searching for a pale oval, plush lips, curled eyelashes covering now milky-white eyes.

Yuu stretched a trembling hand in front his his face, his chest still pressed on the marble floor, and his fingers clawed at the stone, creating shallow grooves in it. “He needs me! Let me go…!” Reita felt a weight push his own heart down, as he recognized his brother in that face, in that forlorn expression.

Aoi was there, in the last sparks of will he had, and was fighting to get to Uruha. “He can’t… die, he can’t… he can’t…!” the raven was sobbing, crawling on the floor and literally dragging Ruki with him in the process. “You can’t do shit, let Kai do his magic and let me heal yo–” the smaller’s voice got strained by a painful groan.

Before Reita could even move to stop it, black claws swished, whistled in the air and red flowers of blood bloomed in Ruki’s round face, four red gashes opening in his lower jaw.

Then another set of four wounds formed along his chest, on his arms and on his ribs: Aoi was clawing his way out of Ruki’s hold, both of them scrambling on the floor and the raven’s face twisted into a desperate expression.

_“HE NEEDS ME! HE NEEDS MY HEALING!”_  
Aoi stop it! You’re hurting them!  
“URUHA! PLEASE NO!”  
Leave the healing to Kai, we need to save ourselves!

Two minds wriggling together, two souls trapped in what seemed like a whirlwind of emotions, fight or flight instincts from both of them kicking in in two completely different ways.

Ruki was clenching his teeth while red blood darkened his white shirt, trying to not let go of his friend and not letting his demon impulse call up to his Lucy… but the want to chop off his legs was growing… and growing…! “Ruki, step back…!” Reita walked up to them, feeling his body scream revenge in seeing his lover so wounded.

Ruki rolled off of the raven with a painful moan and as soon as Yuu scrambled up on his feet, Reita jumped him to snake his arms up and around his neck in a chokehold. “Aoi, listen to me now!” he growled as the raven thrashed, pushed his feet on the ground and arched his back.

High-pitched roars and wails pushed out of his closed-up throat and bloodied claws tried to break that lean body free. “Kai will save him, Uruha will be fine” Reita spoke with a low, hoarse voice, his serious tone starting to seep inside the raven’s mind. “He’ll be ok” Reita added now a little softer.

The black-haired demon slowly relaxed in that hold, sobbing with his teeth bared and his eyes closed shut while that pearly-gray foam trickled down from his mouth, sizzling on his clothes.

His healing smoke was slowly growing thinner and the pulsing dark veins under his skin now reached his jaw.

_“NO No no no he’ll not…!”_  
Please calm down… this shit is hurting so fucking much…  
“He’s not healing…! Kai can’t do it…!”  
He’s the fucking Lord of Hell, he’ll heal him–!  
“I can FEEL his soul FADE, Yuu! I… I can’t let him die…! Please understand me!”  
I… I get you, really, but… we’re in a bad shape…! Try to understand, too!

Suddenly a noise made every inch of Yuu’s skin crawl with goosebumps: a throaty rattle, a deeper wheeze behind their backs. “Fuck… Rei, hold him more…!” Ruki shouted as he used the white smoke swirling from his wounds on Yuu’s shivering body, hazel eyes looking at the raven’s face with concern.

_I… can’t breathe…!_  
“He’s dying… Oh dear Baphometh he’s dying!”  
Aoi… for fuck’s sake… stop our body before we die!!  
“I need to free us! Uruha’s dying, they can’t do what I can…!”  
WE’RE DYING TOO! YOU’RE GOING TO GET OURSELVES KILLED!  
“I DON’T FUCKING CARE! GIVE ME THE CONTROL!”

Quick as lightning, black blades slashed the air and rose to the arm clutching his neck: Aoi sank his weapons right inside Reita’s forearm and through his own neck. “FUCK! Aoi stop it-!” the dusty-blond curse as new waves of pain crashed on him, but the raven arched and heaved again, his claws ripping and sawing at his bones.

_“I DIED ONCE FOR HIM!”_  
Wait–! Aoi…! T-the poison…!  
_“I DON’T CARE!_ _I’LL DO IT AGAIN, AGAIN, AGAIN!_ _“_

Yuu was hissing and growling for the pain radiating in all of his body, blood spurting from his wounded throat endlessly, but the raven didn’t stop to move and twirl to escape the chokehold, forced and controlled by Aoi’s soul.

Ripping off Reita’s arm was as easy as tearing a sheet of paper in half and Aoi sent it flying on the other side of the hall with an angered yell.

Ruki moved on his feet fast and precise, his chainsaw clashing against those black claws in a spurt of instinctive wrath. “STOP THIS FUCKING BULLSHIT, YUU!” the blond growled at the other, his eyes glowing red. “I’m NOT losing my best friend AND my fucking BOYFRIEND!”.

Aoi roared back at him and he pushed against the grinding blade of Lucy, sparks hitting his gnarling face.

The raven stepped sideways and twirled around Ruki, using his own weapons as shield against the chainsaw, sweat rolling on his paler skin and his eyes darkening more and more.

Reita joined them with the sole arm he had left, the other smoking like a chimney, and he planted a fist right in Aoi’s side to stop him from decapitating the shorter demon.

The raven fell on the ground, rolling on it and panting with both his arms trembling, claws leaving marks on the gold-veined marble underneath him.

_“LET ME USE MY FUCKING BODY, YUU!”_  
Stop wanting to kill my friends!  
“I DON’T CARE ABOUT THEM, LET ME GO!”  
SHUT THE FUCK UP AOI!

Aoi coughed up a good mouthful of dark, foamy liquid and his black eyes darted up, seeing Ruki walking briskly up to him. “Stay still now, you dickhead… I just wanna help you out!” the blondish demon snarled at him.

_Hey… hey hey stop!_  
“FUCKING… MOVE…!”  
Our body can’t do this, stop trying to fight!

Suddenly, one of the raven’s leathered palms rose to grab Ruki’s nape as the smaller knelt near him and he violently sent him against Reita, seeing them clash and stumble together on the marble.

_“GO TO HIM!!”_  
Aoi you’re… fucking insane!! I CAN’T MOVE!  
“IF HE DIES I’LL FUCKING TORTURE YOUR SOUL FOR ALL ETERNITY!”  
OUR MUSCLES ARE LOCKED UP, I CAN’T…!

Yuu took his hands up and held his head as he stood up on his weak feet, his breath passing with difficulty through his wounded throat, but his body wobbled like a drunkard towards Kai, still knelt on the ground next to Uruha.

His rattles now filling the entire hall with their raspy noise.

_“STAY AwAy FrOm HiM…!”  
Aoi, stop it!_

The raven jumped in the air, both claws pointing at Kai’s shoulder blade and time stopped around him, his now black eyes filled with rage.

With desperation.

_“Please be alive! PLEASE BE ALIVE!”  
Fuck–! WE’RE SO DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU!_

Those claws didn’t have the chance to graze even a single feather of that black cape, as Kai turned the last second with his arm well stretched up: his palm impacted against Aoi’s forehead and gold light shone between the two in a silent explosion.

And like he was sucked in by a maelstrom, Kai’s conscience fell into a deep, raging sea, where two silvery souls swayed and twirled in it like two big sharks, biting at each other’s tails in an endless circle.

Their bright aura slowly getting eaten away by pure blackness, dark bubbles forming in they misty forms.

“LET ME CONTROL! I HAVE TO SAVE HIM!” Aoi’s soul roared.

“CALM THE FUCK DOWN YOU DUMB FUCK! WE NEED HELP NOW!” Yuu screamed back.

**“ENOUGH!”**

That brawl between the two souls stilled as they managed to notice Kai’s presence near them, silently and sternly watching them. “Aoi, my child. You should know better how to behave” Kai muttered as he approached them with a twitch of his feet, floating in that dark-gray sea they were all swimming.

The two souls trembled like flames for mere instants. “Yuu, you have to take control back again” Kai’s slit pupils watched how Yuu was nodding to him, the bright azure of his eyes watching him back.

The black ones of Aoi looked down, still growling, but slowly shriveling more and more. “Your body is poisoned, but luckily your healing powers are giving you such strength… let your brothers take care of you, I’ll–” “You can’t heal him!” Aoi shouted.

Again that shark-like figure started to swam, circling the Lord of Hell with his fins flared open. “Your powers are too dark to save him! I already saw that venom in action, you’ll not be able to save my Uruha!” Aoi wailed, his desperation seeping through his anger.

Kai frowned as he watched Aoi circle him more and more, nearer and nearer. “What you mean? Where did you see this poison?” he asked, Yuu’s soul approaching him to nudge himself against Kai.

He was still scared, hurt, confused… and Kai felt a slight concern for Uruha, a sincere one.

“How long has passed since you placed your foot on the battleground, Kai??” Aoi hissed, eyes large and now giving out tears of tar. “That is the Venom of Gods… Samael’s blood” the demon’s soul stopped and his form changed again and again.

A kaleidoscope of silvery images that slowly disappeared into little shards of light.

Yuu watched Aoi crumble and return to his human-like appearance, heaving tiredly. “Please let me… let me stay with him… Kai, please! You… made my heart in the shape of his lacking one… let me stay by his side” Aoi clung onto Kai and the human soul put his palms on those clawed, bright hands.

Before Kai could say something more to Aoi or even to Yuu, he felt their conscience fade into nothingness, their strength finally at its limit. “I’ll do what I can… please my child, rest” the Lord of Hell whispered.

Yanked back to the normal reality, Kai saw Aoi’s body dangle from his grip few inches from the ground, his frame twitching and his limbs relaxed.

And even if it seemed hours since he started to spoke with two intertwined souls, only one second and a half passed, Reita and Ruki getting up on their feet to run towards their Lord and the raven.

“I’ll do what I can…”.


	8. Serpetine

_THUMP!_

A book got slammed on the slick surface of that dark mahogany desk and a couple of amber eyes rose behind thick glasses to watch clear, azure ones. “What…” Uruha sighed as Aoi was leaning on the table with his elbows well planted on that same desk.

Folded on it from the other side, his back arched. “You didn’t come at our last meeting… Kai was slightly concerned, you know” Aoi moved his hand from the book’s cover he just slammed shut and stretched up like a cat, starting to walk around the polished desk.

Uruha’s bedroom was more of a big, Victorian library with a bed in it, the smell of antique books filling the air with its dry and cinnamony scent.

All dancing with Uruha’s orchid perfume, always enveloping him like a cloud. “So what?” Uruha replied, snaking his hand to take the book in his palms, opening it back again.

His eyes fell on those swirly letters, so ancient that most humans forgot that language even existed. “It was a routine meeting, I don’t have to preside every meet we schedule” the First General resumed his reading, while Aoi was walking slowly around his chair.

One gloved hand rose and caressed the taller's strands of silky moonlight, now lazily pulled up in a half ponytail. “You’re our older brother… You should be a role model” the raven smirked as he gripped that ponytail and cautiously pulling Uruha’s head back, until he was looking directly at him upside-down.

The other pursed his lips as his glasses started to slide off his nose towards his forehead. “Instead you’re still brooding all alone in your room… I missed you” Aoi muttered, now carding his light locks with his fingers.

Bowing down, the raven just left a soft kiss on Uruha's plump lips, seeing how their form stretched into a devious grin. “I’m not brooding… I’m reading” he breathed with his voice faintly strained by that bent-backwards position.

Aoi let him straighten his back and continued to walk around his chair, going to lean against the desk with his hips against the first drawer, on Uruha’s left. “And tell me, what are you reading that’s so intense to make you skip a meeting on our political positions with the other Circles?” the raven crossed his arms on the chest, making it slightly puff out as he arched his shoulders back.

Uruha looked up to him with inexpressive eyes, then took off his glasses and very slowly he methodically folded them closed, the book forgotten on the desk in front of him. “You see, Aoi…” he started to spoke, laying the glasses on the book with a soft clicking noise. “It’s not the content of the book that’s important to me, right now…” the taller uttered under his breath.

Rising slowly from the chair, Uruha looked how the smug expression on the raven melted away in place of a more transfixed one, eyes hooded and his bottom lip starting to get bitten at. “What I search for is some distraction…” that low, velvety voice caressed Aoi’s neck when the taller bowed on him.

“I can be a nice distraction, too…” the raven whispered, his body reacting with a shiver of anticipation of what could possibly happen.

He licked his lips with only the tip of his tongue, eyes closing while his head tilted on one side, that cold breath still tingling on his skin. “How can you distract me from that numskull of our brother, if you’re always at his side?” a little growl interrupted Uruha’s speech and Aoi blinked in surprise.

Then his eyes rolled and his lips twisted.

The magical moment broke, great… “Again with this story?” the raven hissed, while Uruha shifted in front of him. “It never stopped, Aoi” the taller grumbled as he pressed his own hips against the other’s, planting each palm on either sides of Aoi, on the desk behind him.

The raven arched his back until he felt the wood against the shoulder blades, his feet still on the flooring, and the taller followed him with now a more evil smile on his face. “It will never stop until I’ll erase his fucking face from The Ninth…” Uruha whispered, his lips grazing Aoi’s to let his cold breath enter them.

The Third General wore a scowl on his face and he turned his head away before the taller could kiss him properly. “I ask myself… if you’re growing senile, Uruha” Aoi mumbled angrily, moving his hands on Uruha’s chest to push him away from himself.

The taller made a step back while Aoi sat on the desk, his long legs crossed. “Uhmpf, senile?” Uruha hissed and the raven looked at him with a cold, angry expression. “Yes, because I have to remind you _again_ and _again_ that Reita didn’t do anything wrong” Aoi spoke slowly, his metallic voice trying to maintain a certain calmness.

But his azure eyes were glowing. “He did… and maybe you don’t realize it for more than one motive…” Uruha growled back at him, standing tall and straight in front of the raven.

Anger started to boil inside Aoi’s blood, his whole body quivering as his hands clawed the side of the desk. “You’re insinuating something, _my love_?” the raven bared his teeth with poison tinting his words and Uruha smirked, a smile without trace of happiness. “He’s giving it to you right and hard, mh? It’s not easy to make you squirm, but maybe your _dear_ Reita is thick enough–” “Oh now you’ve done it!”.

Aoi jumped off the desk with a frustrated groan, starting to walk towards the door. “Where are you going?” Uruha turned to watch that swaying back leave, framed by dark, wooden jambs. “In a place where I’m not treated like a fucking slut” Aoi growled, turning to watch those amber eyes shine.

How could he say something like that? How could he suspect that he could…! “I may be overwhelmed by my bloodthirst from time to time, Uruha, but I’m a faithful demon and you should know it very well” Aoi stopped his steps and stood at the entrance of the bedroom, eyes narrowing.

Uruha watched his lover closely as he heard his voice crack, seeing his chest betray a held-down sob. “Even if I’m training the new troops together with Reita, doesn’t mean I fucking open my legs for him–” “Then why you visit his bedroom so much, mh?” a big, thick and black snake started to sway on the floor, circling Aoi’s legs and rose from the ground, its head as bis as a dog’s.

The raven watched those golden eyes fixate his very soul, his face hard like a stone. “He was in need of a good talk. I’m still the Balancer, Uruha, this is my job… and don’t you dare use Hellion on me” the snake moved closer, his slick and black tongue caressing Aoi’s neck before starting to envelop his chest tight.

So tight, but not too much. “Mhhh Reita seems so chatty with both you and our Lord, lately… is a mistrustful behavior if he doesn’t want to speak with me…” Uruha walked calmly towards Aoi, hands behind his back. “Does he plans something against me?” the taller stopped, his chest almost brushing against Hellion’s coils.

His amber eyes fired up, sinking deeper and deeper inside Aoi’s pupils. “To steal something else–” “He didn’t stole anything, you fool demon…! You have _me_ , it’s not enough? I’m not _enough_??” Aoi’s throat closed painfully at those last words and his teeth clenched together for a few seconds in seeing Uruha lower his gaze in pure silence.

“Uruha, answer me! PLEASE!” that growl impacted against that wall of quietness and Aoi felt his heart clench inside his chest.

Why there was that thick dead-air around him?

The raven shot his hands up and grabbed both of Uruha’s temples with his palms, head-butting his forehead against his own.

Suddenly a burst of screams and wails inside Aoi’s head accompanied a single, forlorn whisper… a quiet sob so distant it was almost inaudible.

 

> _[I don’t want to lose you]_

The raven froze while Uruha hurried his body away from that hold, frowning hard. “Don’t use your damn mind-reading with me, Aoi…” Uruha hissed while turning his back to the other.

Hellion was still wrapped around Aoi’s sides, its head passing from shoulder to shoulder and snaking underneath his chin. “It’s not fair when you watch my soul with those eyes” Uruha added, his shoulders slumped and his head slightly bowed forward.

It was that, the problem?

He was the First General, the very embodiment of dread, a respectable soldier, a brilliant strategist, a very handsome demon… and even with all of that he _feared_ to lose him to someone else.

Aoi’s expression softened and he walked up to his slender back, moving his arms to hug his waist tight. “You’re going to lose me if you call me a whore, you silly demon” the raven muttered before leaving a small kiss between his elegant shoulder blades, sighing heavily.

Hellion was starting to cut his circulation and blocking him from breathing properly, but that wasn’t painful, oh no… it was even too good for his state of mind.

Then, a little idea was born into Aoi’s mind: that snake was part of Uruha’s soul, so…

One gloved hand rose to stroke its scaly head, scratching underneath its jaws. “My soul is yours only, so is my entire body… no exception” a little smile grew on Aoi’s face as he saw the other starting to relax. “Reita is my brother, my first friend… the Warrior of our kind” Aoi continued to stroke that big-sized python, passing his palm along its neck and down to its coils.

The raven walked around Uruha, searching his face and he saw him turn his head so he couldn’t be seen, not completely at least. “But it’s you the one I love, the one I’m bound to… It was you that saved me during the last Great War, not Reita nor our Lord”.

Aoi then moved a couple of fingers to his lips, biting the tip of his glove to remove it so he could cup his palm on Uruha’s cheek, while his other hand was busy scratching Hellion’s long belly. “You’re the First General, our older brother… my sun and my moon, every single beat of my heart” and finally those plush lips Aoi longed to caress again started to shift.

Stretch.

Forming a now bashful smile, underlining a couple of self-conscious eyes. “Stop kneading my spirit as if it was clay…” the taller huffed and Aoi chuckled, relieved. “And you need to stop constrict me with your preposterous boa! I’m starting to have troubles breathin–” suddenly Hellion moved and its coils pressed more on that lean body, hugging it tighter.

Together with the snake, Uruha shifted and rose both his hands to hold Aoi’s nape in his fingers, nearing him so they could finally share a kiss.

Tongues found their partners and fought with hunger in almost choreographed motions, so accustomed to each other’s movements.

Aoi’s hands trembled as he grasped Uruha’s clothes, leaning into the kiss so much he tip-toed against his chest, finally hugging his neck for more stability.

That was a long-yearned kiss, that made both lose themselves for a couple of seconds and when those rosy lips separated, only a thin strand of glistening saliva kept them united. “Bed…?” Uruha hummed.

The raven panted in his nods, eyes quickly hooding and glowing. “Yes. Now” he replied in a veil of voice and he walked backwards without releasing his hold on Uruha, kissing and nipping and licking plush, soft lips tasting like ambrosia.

Uruha’s bed had a big, dark canopy above its fluffy covers, carved and modeled in the shape of a gothic church’s roof, its sharp arcs making points and triangles that Aoi already knew by heart.

As his clothes disappeared in a puff of smoke, Aoi fell on the mattress with Hellion still well wrapped around his naked waist, its black and slick body making a striking contrast against that moon-kissed skin.

Uruha wallowed in the image of his lover slowly caressing Hellion, his long fingers scratching at those shining scales and his beautiful face starting to tint in a delicious shade of pink as the misty animal slithered on him, up and down his chest.

And Aoi felt a thrill down his spine in seeing his warm amber eyes devour him, piece by piece, lips stretching more and more in a grin that felt sharp and _so good_. “Uruha…” a single whisper exited Aoi's chiseled lips and the taller dove on him.

He bit that fair skin cautiously, his palms passing under his thighs and gripping at his ass, clawing his supple muscles while Uruha’s entire body was trembling with desire. “I’m not going anywhere” Aoi muttered under his breath, the snake still well enveloped around his waist, stroking his neck with its tongue.

“I’ll be here with you for all eternity”  
“I’ll be yours only, forever”  
“My only God… I’ll be your only believer, my sweetest divinity”  
“Say it to me, Uruha… please”

Those string of words rolled on those blankets like prayers, low and growly, methodically and tenderly filling the canopy with their sounds. “Try and say it to me-” “I… I can’t… you know it” Uruha stilled on top of Aoi, head bowed so much he almost grazed the other’s shoulder with his forehead.

Aoi moved both his hands and cupped that pale oval in his palms, making those eyes return on himself: Uruha was so beautiful when he was so conflicted, he wanted to watch him struggle just a little bit, for him… “You read every book of his room at least twice, my love… if you can’t say ‘I love you’, you can say something else” the raven smiled. “I’ll understand anyway…”.

Uruha shifted his weight from one knee to the other, undecided. “My… my sweetheart” the taller recoiled just a bit when Aoi grinned more, hugging his neck. “More… tell me more” “My dearest… my… my beloved… I only know pain and despair, I’m only able to hurt–” “Hurt me, then… as much as you can” those words shocked Uruha, making him back off a little from their hugged position.

Aoi was still holding on his shoulders, his face inching closer while Hellion glissaded down the raven’s waist, circling one of his thighs with its long neck. “Bite me, claw me and for every bone you’ll break I’ll know you love m–!” his voice got strangled by a moan and immediately after, Aoi’s hips bucked up.

His erection grazing against Uruha’s clothed one. “H-Hey! Bad snake!” he hissed out of breath.

The big python just whipped his tongue out again, tasting the air and hitting the raven’s sweet spot right above his entrance. “Call Hellion b-back… it’s going to make me come if–” “But seems like my baby wants to play with you too, now… Who am I to stop him?” Uruha interrupted Aoi’s little plead with a soft bite on his plush lips.

The misty snake moved more, nuzzling the back of the raven’s balls with its snout before shifting up again, swaying up and around Aoi’s body. “This gives me an idea… my dearest flame” Uruha continued to talk with his velvety, low voice and Aoi couldn’t stop a sigh when he felt his nervous arms manhandle him on his belly.

A new kind of kisses peppered the raven's lithe back, open-mouthed and harder than before, bites that left slight rosy circles on that soft skin up along Aoi’s spine, until Uruha sank his teeth in the side of his neck.

The taller stood motionless with his teeth against the other’s muscles and tendons as he didn’t dare to sink them more, break that precious skin. “More, my love” Aoi whispered, one hand rising to hook Uruha’s nape and press him against himself. “I’ll heal… bite me… hurt me and show me how much you love me” and Uruha couldn’t say no to such lusty voice, filled to the brim with that soft, metallic, hot tone.

Aoi’s blood didn’t taste and smell like normal demon blood, acidic on the tongue and burning hell in the throat.

His blood was sweet and salty like his scent, like tears and vanilla: it rolled on Uruha’s tongue like the most delicious dessert and down his throat like warmed bourbon.

And the low, hitched moan it yanked from his lover made Uruha break his skin more and more, passing the flat of his tongue on his fuming wounds. “Yes… like that… my Uruha” Aoi sighed again, tensing on the duvet while Hellion slithered on him, stroking his cock in the meantime.

It felt strange, its scales were completely different from Uruha’s big and soft hands yet they were as much as cold as the other’s skin, making Aoi break into shivers of pleasures. “M-more… please…!” “You’ll get what you want, my sweetheart… but not by me first” Uruha chuckled in his lover’s ear.

The sudden revelation made the raven turn his head, one brow rose in confusion, but as soon as he felt cold, smooth scales caress his tailbone, Aoi shot his eyes wide open. “What– wait, it’s… I mean, it’s too strange, I don’t know if…!” his words got cut off again when Hellion’s tail tip pushed and prodded, entering him even too much easily.

Uruha grinned and kissed the raven on his jaw, feeling his skin vibrate as he moaned. “You’ll like it, my beloved” the taller hummed, his clothes starting to melt off of his body as if it was snow under the sun.

Black and gray dribbled down his lean and nervous muscles, raining on Aoi like dark rain, pooling and disappearing around him. “And you were the one using Hellion to calm me down, don’t you?” Uruha chuckled more as he heard his lover starting to pant, the more his hole got stretched by the thicker and thicker body of the black snake. “And you’re so delicious now… I might swallow you whole…”.

Hellion’s maw opened suddenly at that phrase and enveloped Aoi’s throat, pressing on it just to make his air flow grow thin.

The python’s strong body tightened around the raven’s ribs and made him arch back of a few inches, still sinking inside him.

All while Aoi was panting in soft wheezes, eyes hooded. “How I wish I could say to you sweet nothings, my precious… but I should let my body talk in stead of my tongue…” Uruha uttered as he grasped Aoi’s body into a clawed embrace.

Other kisses peppered Aoi’s nape and the shell of his ear, nibbles pinching the tender skin right behind it and the raven melted in his gentle yet passionate seize, arching his back against his lover to brush his freezing-cold member with his backside, calling out his name in pleased whimpers. “…hhh~ ‘Ruha…! Want you, oh fuck–!”.

Both Aoi’s hands shot back and up to hold onto Uruha’s shoulders when he felt his cock press against his already stretched ring of muscles, entering slowly and steadily inside him.

The taller was basking in the raven’s wails of pain and pleasure, blood trickling down his quivering thighs.

Black smoke started to exude from his lithe skin, enveloping Uruha and piling up against the canopy. “Uruha… it hurts… it hurts… so good” he whimpered with his tongue wetting his lips and his mouth falling open with silent screams every time the taller moved in and out of him.

Hellion moved in tandem with its master, its jaw still secured around the raven’s throat and its coils well wedged around his waist, scales glistening for the sweat of both the demonic lovers.

Uruha increased the rhythm of his poundings and the more he rammed in that lean body, the more Aoi arched against him, his wrists now crossed behind the taller’s neck.

The sound of wet skin against skin started to fill the room, caressing the book remained on the desk and getting trapped, wedged between high-pitched growls and deep moans. “Aoi… Aoi, I… I…” Uruha’s voice tried to speak, his tongue stumbling on words he wasn’t physically able to tell, his eyes screwed shut and his brows furrowed into a conflicted expression.

Aoi smiled with his mouth still open and groaning, his eyes rolling inside his skull. “Love… you too… Uruha… my Uruha” he managed to heave while four dark claws opened up his chest, fingers gripping at his very ribcage.

Blood and tenderness mixed together in that special way Uruha had to show his lover how it mattered to him, how much he wanted him near himself… And suddenly all that pain and pleasure became stranger, frightening as the pressure of the orgasm made Yuu’s soul recognize all of that as a memory… a lucid dream in their deep state of unconsciousness.

 

> _Why is he so… allergic to love?_  
>  _“He’s wired this way… all the time he use those pet names it’s an immense struggle for him”_  
>  _But it’s just a phrase… he could fake–_  
>  _“He can’t FAKE it, Yuu… it hurts his very soul even thinking about it”_  
>  _Oh… But you heard his thoughts, so he could think it?_  
>  _“Why do you think I always keep my head so near his? We’re bonded, we can feel each other, but now… now…”_

Eyes shot open wide and Yuu’s body twitched under the covers, wheezing as he grasped at the duvet of a bed imbued with the scent of orchid, inside a room that resembled more a library than a bedroom.

Near a still, cold, but still live body of a respectable soldier, a brilliant strategist, a very handsome demon… Uruha.

 


End file.
